New emergency hospital will be built at Cramlington

Jul 29 2010 by William Green, Political Editor

Mr Opperman also called for rural areas to be treated and reviewed in a slightly different way to other parts of the country.

He said: “In dealing with rural services, let me turn to the issue of the rebuilding of Haltwhistle Hospital.

“Again, it takes the best part of an hour and a half to get there from Newcastle and the various hospitals there.

“There have been significant difficulties relating to the hospital, not least the fact that people have been waiting for the hospital to be rebuilt for well over 10 years and that has not yet happened.

“I sincerely hope that those matters will be reviewed. Will the minister write to me over the next month with some assurances about the way forward?”

Mr Opperman also demanded action over the “nightmare of bureaucracy” surrounding care in Northumberland because of multiple providers and split budgets.

Health Minister Simon Burns sought to provide reassurance about the new Cramlington hospital, saying: “I am advised that planning permission is currently being sought for the proposed site and that further development work is under way.

“I hope that that goes some way to answering the point that he raised. I will make sure that I write to him during the next week or so on the other points that he mentioned to explain all the outstanding issues.”