Closing A&E unit at Darlington Memorial Hospital would be a matter of life and death for Teesdale residents, hearing is told

A RADICAL NHS shake-up, which might include the closure of Darlington Memorial Hospital’s accident and emergency department, has been branded as foolish during a public inquiry.
If realised, people in upper Teesdale would be almost an hour away from the nearest A&E. The proposals form part of an NHS Sustainability and Transformation Plan for the region.
The plan is to reduce the number of A&E and maternity units to only two in the region. Health bosses say this will ensure that specialist consultants will be on hand 24 hours a day, seven days a week, ensuring better quality care. They added that there are currently too few consultants and midwives to fill rotas at all hospitals.
If the plan goes ahead, hospitals at either Darlington or North Tees will lose their A&E or maternity units, or both.
Darlington Borough Council was so concerned about the possible loss of services at the town’s hospital that it called a public inquiry last week. The inquiry heard from MPs, county councillors from County Durham and North Yorkshire, doctors, campaigners and patients.
A number of people who spoke said the changes will have a devastating impact on Teesdale.
Darlington MP Jenny Chapman said: “I really feel for the people who live to the west of us. People living in Barnard Castle, Bishop Auckland and into the dales.
“Those people were made a promise when Bishop Auckland was downgraded. They were promised that, as unhappy as they were, Darlington was safe. That was a promise.”
Teesdale MP Helen Goodman added her concerns about distances people in Langdon Beck, Cockfield and Evenwood would have to travel if units were closed at Darlington Memorial Hospital. She added: “You have got a lot of isolated communities, so obviously that is a problem in an emergency, and it is just blindingly obvious. I don’t think there is anywhere else in the region that has got these long distances. So for us, Darlington is essential and the prospect of going to North Tees or James Cook is just horrendous to people. It absolutely stands to reason that we are totally dependant on having an accident and emergency unity in Darlington and that is just basic. That is our number one call, that is our number two call, that is our number 100 call.”
Mrs Goodman called on health bosses to be more honest and provide more numbers about the changes. She also asked them to challenge cuts in local government funding which have resulted in less cash for adult social care, thus placing more pressure on the NHS.
Claims that the shake up is backed by clinicians were challenged by Darlington hospital consultant Dr Jerry Murray, who described the plan as foolish. He said doctors were not allowed to ask questions during an engagement session at Sedgefield Racecourse, and during workshops they were asked to answer broad questions that the clinicians could not possibly but agree with.
The professor of cardiovascular medicine at Durham University added: “The inference is that therefore we support the extrapolation to go down the route of two hospital sites, but there is no consensus whatsoever.
“If you take a step back, it looks like the emperor’s new clothes – it makes no sense at all. As far I am concerned, I have to say it is a foolish proposal and it must be challenged.”
He warned that the closure  of an A&E department at either Darlington or North Tees would add more pressure on the remaining one.
Teesdale county councillor Richard Bell warned that moving the A&E department to North Tees would move the North East Ambulance Service’s “centre of gravity” there.
Ambulances would have to travel even further to get to Teesdale in an emergency, before returning to the North Tees, Cllr Bell said.
He said: “The geography of this area needs to be the deciding factor in any changes.
“It is not just a matter of convenience, it could potentially be a matter of life or death. I know the NHS powers say it is the type of treatment you receive that matters when you get there, but logically there must be a limit otherwise we would have one A&E in London and everyone would take the train.”
Consulting psychiatrist Dr Bunny Forsyth, who travels from Cotherstone to Middlesborough on a daily basis, used her own experiences to describe how far people would have to travel.
She praised Darlington Memorial Hospital staff who saved her life on two occasions, saved the life of her mother four or five times, and saved her daughter's leg.
She added: “I travel back and forth to James Cook Hospital every day, and I can tell you the only time I have managed it in 53 minutes was on Christmas Day with no traffic involved.
“There must be a regional service that is a reasonable distance away – this in rural areas is a key issue. People in this region, in Teesdale and beyond, are rightly passionate about Darlington A&E because we not only value and respect its excellence, but we desperately need its relative proximity care. That makes regional, geographical and clinical sense.”
Barnard Castle resident Judi Sutherland said a recent petition against the change raised more than 6,000 signatures in two days and warned mortality rates would rise because of long distances.
She said: “I think Darlington A&E has to stay because rural lives matter as much as urban lives matter.”
Darlington Borough Council voted unanimously to call on the area’s clinical commissioning group, which pays for services, to urgently revisit the proposals and that the A&E department at Darlington Memorial Hospital be retained,