Mayor: Scrap plans for new Northumberland hospital

Jan 14 2010 by Adrian Pearson, The Journal

HEALTH chiefs were last night urged to drop plans to build an emergency hospital near Cramlington.

Opposition to the Northumberland proposal is growing amid concerns the region cannot support another hospital without massively downgrading services elsewhere.

Health bosses have denied the claims and insist for many thousands of families it would increase their options in an emergency.

The attack from a leading Tory is raising eyebrows at Northumbria Healthcare NHS Trust where planners thought they had offered genuine improvements to regional health plans.

But council leaders claimed that as result of the plans thousands of families will be told they are not welcome at their nearest hospital and asked to head to Cramlington in an emergency.

NHS bosses need to draw in 500,0000 patients to the new hospital which will see existing ones in Newcastle and Tyneside put at risk as funding is “spread too thin” opponents argue.

In North Tyneside, elected mayor Linda Arkley claims the new hospital will take beds and wards from her patch and she predicted a huge patient backlog as staff struggle to cope with a 20% bed loss at North Tyneside General Hospital in North Shields.

She is also worried about a loss of paediatric services.

Mayor Arkley said that while she could see benefits for some people in the borough, overall North Tyneside would lose out substantially.