MILITARY personnel who have been on hand to support NHS Borders have had their deployment extended by four weeks.

Twenty one personnel will continue to assist with acute services in the Borders until December 8 – military support was due to end on November 10.

Dr Keith Allen, associate director of public health at NHS Borders said: "The military have been really helpful and we've been really glad to have them support our hospital and our staff. They have given us more capacity to carry out operations and activities within the hospital."

Military personnel were first drafted in to help the local health board in October.

A statement from the Ministry of Defence said: "Over 450 Armed Forces personnel supporting multiple MACA (Military Aid to the Civilian Authority) tasks in Scotland. These tasks fall under Operation Rescript, Defence’s efforts to support the UK’s response to the pandemic which began in March 2020.

"Defence have supported communities across the UK throughout the pandemic from planning support alongside resilience teams and governments, to ambulance drivers and health care assistants in hospitals as well as the vaccine rollout.

"The Armed Forces stand ready to step up and support civil authorities, devolved nations and communities as required in the coming months where the requests meet the MACA principles."

Sixty three military personnel will also be offering their support to NHS Lanarkshire until December 17.