FEARS the axing of a ward could prompt the closure of Kelso Cottage Hospital were expressed this week.
Yesterday NHS Borders confirmed it planned to shut Poynder View, a special unit which treats vulnerable dementia patients, but denied the closure would affect the hospital.
It says the 16-bed unit would close for a pilot period of a year, with pat
ients being moved to Hawick or the Borders General Hospital.
It will be replaced with a day service at the hospital and care in the community.
TheSouthern understands the ward, which costs £700,000 a year to run, could close in October.
The unit, one of three in the Borders, gives care to people with advanced dementia and helped 37 patients last year.
An insider warned: "Dementia is the biggest cause of illness in the elderly. People with dementia are the most vulnerable part of our population and are a growing population. This is a demographic time bomb.
"Some people are saying the future of Kelso cottage hospital is at risk. Beds are being cut in ward two (rehabilitation and continuing care) and if the dementia unit closed, it would leave ward one vulnerable. The less the hospital is used the less viable it becomes."
NHS Borders says the 24-ward jobs will be safe, with staff moving to the new service and other mental health work in the Borders.
The board said the upstairs Poynder View ward is "less than ideal" because patients couldn't get to the garden or outside easily.
It plans the replacement day service and says staff will support people to stay at home or in homes for longer, adding older people will be able to maintain local links.
The board's business management boss Lorna Paterson said: "The proposals will be discussed in detail with staff, patients and relatives over the summer months and Borders NHS Board will be presented with detailed plans in the autumn.
"NHS Borders understands there may well be anxieties around this change ... and would wish to reassure all those involved that this is a genuine opportunity to offer more efficient and appropriate services within the local communities."
She said senior medics supported the changes and that the proposals would not affect Kelso hospital's other two wards.
But the source said: "People go to the unit because they need to. They can't be looked after in nursing homes or hospitals or in their own homes because they have disturbed nights, urinate in the wrong place, break beds or get up and wander.
"Carers can be trying to change the bed several times a night and facing aggression from their husband or wife when trying to clean them up."
Closing the unit, which serves east Roxburghshire and Berwickshire, would mean a round trip of nearly 80 miles for anyone from Eyemouth to the BGH.
Local MSP John Lamont said: "Although it is important for patients to be treated as close as possible to their homes, we must not forget that this may not always be possible. Some patients will always need hospital care.
The full article contains 520 words and appears in Southern Reporter newspaper.
