We both attended an NHS Trust consultation event in July to place on record our opposition to the Trust's proposals to transfer 100 critical care unit beds and associated services from Hartlepool hospital to North Tees.
The Trust has insisted that the proposed transfer is required because of the delay in building the new, unwanted, hospital at Wynyard. They suggest that clinical safety at Hartlepool hospital cannot be guaranteed without carrying out the recommendations of the National Clinical Advisory Team (NCAT) and the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to transfer services and staff to Stockton.
We have consistently questioned the evidence detailed in the CCG and NCAT reports and have suggested that any such evidence promoted by the two groups is distorted because the Wynyard issue should have no bearing at all on current safety standards at either hospital.
We firmly believe that the new hospital has little realistic prospect of completion in the current economic climate, and also that lives will be at some point endangered by the constant leaching of services from Hartlepool to Stockton.
Further, following our questioning at the event, representatives from the NHS Trust, CCG and NCAT admitted that services at Hartlepool are currently safe and that no lives are at risk. When questioned further they were unable to point to any similar form of service transfer which proved that such measures actually improved safety at either site. They instead made a vague reference to research carried out by the Royal Colleges which remains unidentified to date.
We have found no evidence to suggest that critical care services are unsafe at Hartlepool, nor any evidence that the transfer of services as proposed would enhance patients prospects of survival or recovery. Accordingly we have recorded our opposition to the proposals, suggesting that all services should be retained at, and returned to, Hartlepool hospital.