NEWS that a hospital has been given a new lease of life has proved a tonic for patients.

There was speculation about the future of the 20-bed South Moor Hospital, near Stanley, last week, after a report suggested a review should take place.

But this week health bosses have revealed that the 77-year-old hospital has a new role, helping to ease the pressure on the University Hospital of North Durham.

By opening a mothballed ward at Shotley Bridge Hospital, an extra 20 beds have been created in north Durham, thanks to £475,000 from primary care groups and Durham Social Services.

This has allowed South Moor to be redesignated as an intermediate unit, providing 24-hour care for patients who are awaiting discharge.

The hospital, which was recently redecorated, is able to offer most patients their own private room.

It means patients like Eila Edwards, of Stanley, whose husband helped to pay for what was once the South Moor and Craghead Welfare Fund Hospital through stoppages from his miner's wages, can be transferred to a less high-tech setting.

"I'm glad that they are making good use of this place. My husband was a miner. He used to pay money towards it," said Mrs Edwards, 81.

Eighty-year-old Jennie Matheys, of Chester-le-Street, said she was glad she was not bed-blocking at the main hospital, 12 miles down the road.

"I had an operation and I am recovering from that. If people need hospital treatment they need the bed more than I do now," said Mrs Matheys, who is waiting for a care home place.

"I have got a lovely room and the girls are very nice."

Mrs Edwards, who is recovering from a stroke and is waiting until she is well enough to go home, said: "We have had very good care."

Pamela Richards, a nursing assistant who has worked at the hospital for 23 years, was delighted that the hospital has a new role.

"This place is always in people's hearts. It was known as the welfare for years. They tried to close it years ago and there was an outcry," she said.

Today's patients were older and more frail and were in need of more "TLC", said Ms Richards.

And tender, loving care is exactly what the staff, managed by acting ward sister Audrey Blair, aim to provide