I was at a meeting yesterday (16 January) of the Health Scrutiny Committee at County Hall, Durham and took the opportunity to call on the Hartlepool and North Tees NHS (H&NT NHS) Trust to return all services, including the A&E department, to Hartlepool hospital.
(This follows the Labour Group at Durham last month unanimously supporting my resolution denouncing the Trust's failure to consult the people of East Durham on its closure proposals and calling for the return of the A&E department to Hartlepool).
During the past week the Trust has taken the unilateral decision to return a limited number of services to Hartlepool. Whilst this is to be cautiously welcomed I have concerns that this was done without any public consultation or involvement, and in effect means that the Momentum project (which the Trust itself insisted was about moving services out of hospitals) has become something of a farce and the subject of public ridicule.
Representatives of the Trust are on record as stating that they will no longer entertain any debate about the future of Hartlepool hospital until the issues around the proposed new hospital at Wynyard are resolved. Remember, this is an unelected and unaccountable quango laying down the terms of discourse and debate to elected members of a local authority! Surely this is a classic example of the tail wagging the dog.
As I have said throughout, the process used in closing A&E at Hartlepool was flawed and thereby it follows that the decision itself is flawed. The time is now right for the people to demand the complete return of their services to their hospital.