INPATIENT services at The Mount Hospital in Bishopstoke will finally be laid to rest today as the last remaining patients are transferred by ambulance to Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester.

The hospital's controversial closure has been the subject of heavy debate over the last year as residents worried about being stranded without accessible healthcare battled to save the popular facilities.

Bosses at Winchester and Eastleigh Healthcare Trust deemed the hospital unsuitable and costly in the provision of modern care and highlighted the dangerously low staffing levels there.

Now, after months of deliberation, the lights are finally being switched out at The Mount.

Trust chiefs have organised for the remaining inpatients to be transferred to a newly opened temporary rehabilitation ward at the Winchester hospital today.

Other patients who were deemed well enough by medical professionals and social workers have been sent home where they will receive additional rehabilitation care.

The majority of staff working at The Mount's inpatient facility will also be transferred to the new ward and have been told there are permanent roles there for them if they want them.

A trust spokesman said: "We have managed to rehabilitate so many that are well enough to go home.

"We have tried to expedite cases so they can go elsewhere to their own homes or other care so they don't have to go to hospital. This has only been done where patients have been declared fit enough."

Meanwhile, other non-inpatient facilities at The Mount, including the day hospital and therapy service, will run as normal for the forseeable future.