PLANS to overhaul services at Scotland's state hospital will today come a step closer, in a move that will transfer female patients to service providers across Scotland and cut the overall number of beds.

Facilities at Carstairs will be demolished and replaced over the next four years, a process which will bring the total number of high-secure patients there down from 240 to 140, all of whom will be male.

A dozen beds will be for men with learning difficulties.

The plans outlining the physical redevelopment of the hospital and its surrounding buildings are expected to be ratified by South Lanarkshire Council's Planning Committee today.

As part of the changes, female patients, who constitute around 6% of the inpatient population at the hospital, will be decamped around the country's regional network of provision totalling around 30 beds, including a planned facility at Glasgow's Stobhill Hospital.

The shift in accommodation follows legislation which gives patients, including those who are detained for murder, the right to be moved to a lower-security facility when their condition improves.

Though it has undergone several redevelopments since its inception in 1936, the condition of the hospital is deemed substandard. The facility's regeneration will ensure it meets the requirements of national mental health policies.

Construction is due to begin this year, with revamped patient services at the new hospital expected to be running by 2011. The work will be carried out on a phased basis.