County Durham and Tees Valley Strategic Health Authority

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The summary articles in the table below related to the strategic health authority area are copied from the following pages, indicated in the table by key numbers.

  1. Charges
  2. Construction projects
  3. Resource shortfall Sources
  4. Treatment approval or not
  5. Withdrawal of Local Facilities - Sources
    Other
1 2 3 4 5

Summary articles
  2       Crisis-hit hospital finds that private finance for NHS comes at a price.  Labour is committed to greater involvement of the private sector in public services. It wants to use private companies to build new schools and hospitals and to run some services. But what has been the experience so far? Has the private sector, as the government claims, brought new money and fresh ideas to demoralised and underfunded public services? Today the Guardian examines the record at North Durham, among the first of a wave of new hospitals built by private finance and one of the flagships of Labour's programme.  Felicity Lawrence Guardian Unlimited Monday July 23, 2001
  2       Durham hospital chief executive defends record of PFI.  Steve Brown Guardian Wednesday September 5, 2001
  2       PFI 'white elephant' hospital faces merger.  Health adviser drafted in to conduct emergency review of services in Darlington and Durham county.  Guardian Society Friday February 8, 2002
          Twenty-nine patients at a hospital in the north-east of England will be told within the next 24 hours that they have been exposed to possible infection from a deadly brain disease.  James Meikle, health correspondent Wednesday October 30, 2002 The Guardian [Middlesborough]
          Forty new ambulances worth £4m have been mothballed after a health authority belatedly found that they could not cope with speed bumps. Martin Wainwright Thursday July 31, 2003 The Guardian [Tees, North & East Yorkshire]
  2       Banks and property developers made windfall profits of £73m by refinancing one of the Labour government's first privately financed hospitals, the 989-bed Norfolk and Norwich hospital, the National Audit Office reveals in a report published today. The windfall is the third to be disclosed by parliament's financial watchdog after complaints from MPs and the public. The other two are Fazakerley prison in Liverpool and the Dartford and Gravesham hospital. The report says that funding for five other privately financed hospitals - South Buckinghamshire, Calderdale, North Durham, Bromley and South Manchester - could also yield windfall profits for developers.  David Hencke, Westminster correspondent Friday June 10, 2005 The Guardian
          Fifteen hospitals have been hit by outbreaks of the new strain of the hospital superbug Clostridium difficile which has so far contributed to 25 deaths, ministers have admitted. So far there have been 75 cases confirmed by scientists at the specialist laboratory in Cardiff - the only one in the UK equipped to analysis the new strain - health minister Jane Kennedy said yesterday. The statistics reveal the outbreak of the new strain, which last week was confirmed at a second hospital in the UK, is much wider than originally believed. Hospitals where the strain has appeared are in: Preston, Birmingham, Winchester, Bristol, Romford, Southampton, Truro, Carshalton, High Wycombe, South Tyneside, Newcastle, South Tees, Sunderland, Stoke Mandeville and Exeter. Debbie Andalo Thursday June 30, 2005
    3     £63m black hole for North East health trusts. South Tees Hospitals NHS Trust and North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust have frozen recruitment. In Tony Blair's constituency, Sedgefield PCT had £3.8m overspend at the end of November.   Summary by Keep our NHS Public of BBC Online 30 January 2006
    3     Action urged over £15.5m deficit. A public interest report by auditors has found that the North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust is heading for a £15.5m deficit. The trust has already implemented a vacancy freeze.  Summary by Keep our NHS Public of BBC Online 10 February 2006
  2       £40m PFI deal for Durham. County Durham and Darlington Priority Services Trust and Derwentside PCT are commissioning a £40m project under the Private Finance Initiative to build a mental health hospital on the outskirts of Durham and a new medical centre in Stanley. The mental health centre will cost £23m to build, while Stanley's centre for primary care and services for children and young people will cost £17m. PFI schemes are controversial in the area after the PFI built University Hospital of North Durham came under concerted attack for its design after opening five years ago. The £97m hospital was criticised for having too few beds to cater for projected demand. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Newcastle Journal 14 February 2006
        5 Hospital shake-up plans approved. County Durham and Tees Valley Strategic Health Authority have approved controversial plans that will change the provision of health services on Teesside. Under the plans all high-risk pregnancies will be cared for at Hartlepool's University Hospital, moving some services from Stockton's Hospital of North Tees. Detailed planning will take place on proposals that include centralising planned orthopaedic services at the University Hospital of Hartlepool. Emergency orthopaedics will be centralised at the University Hospital of North Tees. The announcement comes after lengthy consultation and despite opposition to some of the proposals, which led to street demonstrations. Stockton Council leader Bob Gibson described the shake-up in services as "flawed and unacceptable". Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  BBC Online 23 February 2006
    3     Up to 700 health jobs may be cut. County Durham and Darlington Acute Hospitals NHS Trust has said it may cut 700 jobs over the next three years. The trust says this will be necessary because of payment by results and the effects of independent sector treatment centres. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  BBC Online 23 March 2006
    3     Hewitt walks tightrope with 'rebalancing' act. In a letter to the FT, Alex Nunns of Keep our NHS Public  writes: "Patricia Hewitt refers to the loss of thousands of NHS jobs as a 'rebalancing of staff', made necessary by new technology and better ways of treating patients at home. Why, then, are NHS managers citing market reforms as the reason for cuts ? Mrs Hewitt says the current reforms are 'part of the solution, not part of the problem'. But the County Durham and Darlington hospitals trust recently announced that 700 staff are to be 'rebalanced' because of the payment by results system and the effects of contracted private treatment centres." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Financial Times 4 April 2006
          PCT sheds GPs to private firm. A PMS practice in Darlington staffed by salaried GPs has become the latest to be taken over by an alternative provider. The Park Gate Practice, which operates in an area of high deprivation, was put out to tender by Darlington PCT when it moved into new, specially-built premises earlier this year. IntraHealth Ltd won the contract from a shortlist of six providers, which included four other private providers and only one general practice. Alex Nunns, of the Keep Our NHS Public campaign, said: "Private providers are targeting PCTs around the country, and the PCTs are bringing them in - even where other GPs are offering to provide the service." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Doctor Update 19 April 2006
          Treatment centre programme in disarray as contracts axed. The DoH has been forced to scrap a large swathe of its second-wave independent treatment centre programme nearly a year after it invited private sector organisations to bid for the lucrative contracts. Seven of the 24 local schemes have been axed, with the rest being delayed by up to a year. Those axed include two of the most high profile schemes, in South Yorkshire. The climbdown came after the DoH was forced to acknowledge claims by SHAs and PCTs that more elective capacity was not needed in their regions. Companies bidding for the work received letters from the DoH's commercial directorate saying: "It has become clear for a variety of reasons that the detailed make-up of the schemes needs to be reviewed and that these schemes will not go ahead as part of the phase-two procurement programme. We are currently exploring options to replace the capacity of these schemes." The DoH has told private providers that the monetary value of the schemes - £550m worth of work per year - will still be guaranteed. Meanwhile the other 17 remaining schemes have been delayed for up to a year. NHS Confederation policy director Nigel Edwards said: "What is becoming increasingly clear is that the level of surgical elective capacity is enough, if not too much. The problem is now one of patient flow rather than capacity, and there has been a growing anxiety that too much capacity had been procured and this has become a big issue." The second part of the wave two contract, known as the 'extended choice network', under which the DoH was set to buy elective services on top of the initial national schemes, has also been delayed indefinitely. However, the diagnostic element of the second wave is unaffected. The cancelled projects are: County Durham and Tees Valley - multi-specialty treatment centre; Birmingham and the Black Country - Birmingham City treatment centre to be housed on site at Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals trust; South Yorkshire - cardiology treatment centre; South Yorkshire - general surgery treatment centre; South West Peninsula - multi-specialty mobile unit; West Yorkshire - plastic surgery unit; West Yorkshire - multi-specialty treatment centre. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Health Service Journal 27 April 2006
          The government's decision about the merger of primary care trusts announced on Tuesday attracted little interest. However, the two major concerns - size and coterminosity with county social services - that we were told made it impossible to retain the three highly regarded and passionately supported PCTs in Worcestershire, have been swept aside elsewhere in 10 instances to retain small PCTs serving populations of 150,000 or less. Eight of these are in Labour-held constituencies, the two with the lowest populations, 90,000 and 99,000, are Hartlepool and Darlington. Are there genuine reasons for retention specific to these small PCTs or is this an example of inappropriate political influence that contributes to the low esteem in which the political process and the government are held? Richard Taylor MP Independent, Wyre Forest. Letter Guardian 19 May 2006
          ISTC chaos ignored. The Government is ignoring local concerns over the national ISTC programme as evidence emerges of more schemes being scrapped or put on hold. At least eight of 24 schemes in the £2.5bn wave two ISTC procurement have now been dropped and another put on hold after commissioners said they were not needed. But the DoH is not only insisting that Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridge SHA spends £38m on a elective surgical ISTC, it has also rejected its proposals for case-mix of patients treated there. A recent report by Cambridge City and South Cambridgeshire PCTs said the DoH had "modelled that we need this capacity" without factoring new NHS capacity into the model. It said "there will be high risk to local providers because the aim is for the [ISTC] to fill up first". The PCTs are also under pressure to buy more scans under the national diagnostics procurement. Most of the commissioned scans would substitute for work done in the NHS rather than supplement it, the report says. Essex SHA has been ordered to spend £45m on independent sector schemes, despite the collapse of two ISTC projects in 2005. A paper presented to Colchester PCT's board in January said the SHA had "identified a number of concerns" with this but the scheme was going ahead anyway. A surgical scheme for Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland SHA has been halted. The SHA said that a PFI project to upgrade three hospitals and an ISTC could lead to over-capacity. The SHA is negotiating to leave the national private diagnostics procurement. The DoH has allowed the scrapping of a surgical ISTC in York, which already has a surgical treatment centre, at Clifton Park. Birmingham City Hospital's ISTC had been dropped and it has been reported elsewhere that a further six schemes have been abandoned. These are: County Durham & Tees Valley, South Yorkshire (both cardiology and general surgery), South West Peninsula, and West Yorkshire (both plastics and multi-specialty centres). Dr Paul Miller, chairman of the BMA's seniors' committee, said: "There's clear evidence that wave one schemes are surplus to requirements - spare capacity is being hawked around like soft fruit at the end of market day. Rather than imposing wave two schemes where they are not wanted the DoH should stop now. It should not sign another contract before it has reviewed the whole policy." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Hospital Doctor 8 June 2006
    3     Foundation status hope for trust. Durham and Darlington Acute Hospitals Trust hopes to start becoming a foundation trust by November, despite announcing only in March that it was to axe as many as 300 jobs over the next three years. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  BBC Online 13 June 2006
          A hospital yesterday apologised for a series of blunders that resulted in a patient being treated for a burnt toe having his leg amputated. Derek Atkinson, 56, who has diabetes, burned his big toe on a hot-water bottle in 2001. He said he had seen a consultant at Bishop Auckland general hospital in Co Durham five times for treatment. After two weeks the former teacher was in so much pain that he called his GP, who diagnosed gangrene. The big toe on his left foot was removed and days later his left leg was amputated below the knee. Tuesday July 18, 2006 The Guardian
        5 Fighting for health care. Councillors in Hartlepool have vowed to fight to ensure the town's hospital has a long-term future. Members from all parties have re-affirmed the view that only the full implementation of recommendations in the Acute Services Review by professor Sir Ara Darzi is acceptable. The pledge was triggered by a recent decision by Patricia Hewitt to refer a key Darzi recommendation - the creation of a Centre of Excellence for maternity and children's services in Hartlepool - to an Independent Reconfiguration Panel. The move led to the resignation of Hartlepool MP Iain Wright from his post as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Minister of State for Health Rosie Winterton. Now it has caused speculation that Darzi's proposals for consultant-led maternity and in-patient paediatrics to move to Hartlepool from Stockton may not go ahead and prompted concern over the long-term viability of the University Hospital of Hartlepool. At a meeting of the full council, Councillor Ray Waller, the council's portfolio holder for adult and public health, said: "The hospital wouldn't shut immediately, but evidence from other regions suggests that where specialties such as that proposed for Hartlepool have been taken away then hospitals have proved difficult to sustain in the longer-term." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Evening Gazette 29 September 2006
        5 'Hot and cold' hospitals plan gets a chilly public reception. Six months ago, the Royal College of Surgeons made a radical suggestion. The number of fully equipped accident and emergency departments could be slashed by one half - from 200 to 100 - under the right kinds of reconfiguration, said its president Professor Bernard Ribeiro. Then last month incoming NHS chief executive David Nicholson sparked outrage after saying that each of England's 10 strategic health authorities should consult on about half a dozen reconfigurations over the next year. The ante was upped further when the British Medical Association and the Royal College of Physicians were quoted apparently endorsing the plan. Almost immediately, the BMA issued a statement pointing out that while it was signed up to changes to services for clinical reasons, it had not endorsed any specific proposals. At the same time, one of the government's favourite think tanks, the Institute for Public Policy Research, set out some of the arguments in support of reconfiguration. In an interim paper published following Mr Nicholson's statement, it worked out what the recommendation from the Royal College of Physicians - which amount to one major hospital, including A& E, for every 300,000 people - would mean if it was modelled nationally. Its report concluded that there were about 58 'excess' hospitals which should be merged with peers in order to centralise critical care in super-centres that provide the whole battery of backstage emergency diagnostics, and surgical and intensive nursing skills. But any closures will face political opposition. Consultant dermatologist Barry Monk wants to 'do a Kidderminster' in Bedford and hopes to persuade another doctor to stand against Alan Milburn in Darlington, when the next general election comes. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Health Service Journal 5 October 2006
    3     On red alert. Debt ridden South Tees Hospitals NHS Trust sunk a further £1.8m into debt after its busiest month on record. The trust is fighting to break even by the end of the financial year while carrying an historic debt of £21m, despite £35m in savings last year. The 18% increase in casualty admissions, blamed on changes to GP out-of-hours services, hot weather and the world cup, has hit the trusts budget as it overspent on clinical supplies. A vacancy freeze at the hospital continues and the trust is looking for further savings. However their breaking even depends upon receiving payment for the work they have done under the new Payment by Results structure, under doubt as PCTs are still defining what they can afford. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Teesside Evening Gazette 9 October 2006
          Private firms extend primary care reach. Nearly 40 GP practices across England are being managed by private companies, according to research carried out by Doctor. The biggest cluster is in Merseyside, where all the practices are run by a single company, while the others stretch from Brighton on the south coast to County Durham in the North-east. But this is only the start, with 40% of respondents to Doctor's survey last month saying they knew of private companies bidding to run primary care services in their area. Chilvers McCrea, a company formed in 2002, runs the largest number of GP practices in England, with 21 on its books plus one walk-in centre. It recently signed a 'working agreement' with another company, Tribal Group, to give it more financial muscle in the private healthcare market. The Government, meanwhile, is pushing ahead with plans to broker its own deals with PCTs to set up privately run GP services in 'underdoctored' areas. The first such deal was signed in May with Care UK, a company based in Essex, and the second three months later in London with Mercury Health. But private companies are not limiting their interest to areas of deprivation, despite the 2006 health white paper's assertion that it was these areas - in which it has traditionally been hard to recruit - that the Government wanted to open up to private providers. In Bedfordshire, the local PCT has awarded two contracts to private providers in the past 16 months. The county is not classed as deprived. Berkshire West PCT, recently advertised a contract in the Official Journal of the European Union for a practice, yet to be built, in another area that is not deprived but is experiencing huge population growth. GPC negotiator Dr Peter Holden, who practises in Derbyshire, where UnitedHealth Europe is seeking a foothold, said: 'Nationally, everyone who thinks should be worried. GPs will be very aggrieved if the goodwill and the livelihoods they've built up are taken away from them by private corporations who've never worked hand-to-mouth for the health service.' Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Doctor Update 10 October 2006
        5 North Tees and Hartlepool: IRP referral number 3. Proposals to reconfigure maternity and paediatric services in North Tees and Hartlepool have been referred to the independent reconfiguration panel by health secretary Patricia Hewitt - only the third referral of its type. The proposals were developed by the former County Durham and Tees Valley strategic health authority and other local NHS organisations, and cover services provided at University Hospital of North Tees and University Hospital of Hartlepool. Hartlepool MP Iain Wright resigned last month as parliamentary private secretary to health minister Rosie Winterton and said the main reason was Ms Hewitt's decision to refer the proposals to the IRP. He wrote on his website: 'This new review undermines the earlier Darzi report and jeopardises the work already done.'  Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Health Service Journal 12 October 2006
          Home health. Teesside health experts are part of a national government project to bring health care closer to home. Middlesbrough Primary Care trust and North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust are providing services aimed at cutting hospital stays by treating patients in the community. The clinics have been highlighted as pilot sites by a Department of Health scheme. Millions of NHS operations might eventually take place in doctors' surgeries instead of hospitals if pilot schemes prove successful, the Government said. The Department of Health is examining work at the 30 pilot sites to test how minor operations, such as hernia repairs, removing varicose veins and diagnostic screening can be moved closer to home.  Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Teesside Evening Gazette 23 November 2006
        5 'Closures are not about saving money, but saving lives'. The closure of accident and emergency services at some hospitals is in the interests of patients, the Government has said. If that were true, Andrew Lansley retorted, it could have been done before, not after, financial deficits in the NHS had come to light. The Government fears that it is losing the argument over NHS reconfigurations, which involve A& E and maternity services, among others. The reports, published yesterday, are designed to present the issue more positively, by showing that change might not mean worse care. But the argument assumes that the money saved by closing some A& Es is devoted to building others into specialised centres. That is not guaranteed. Geoff Martin, of the campaign group Health Emergency, said: "Claiming that closing local A& E departments, trauma units and intensive-care facilities will improve services turns all logic on its head. People are fighting these closures in their tens of thousands up and down the country because they know that closing local services and increasing journey times puts lives at risk." The Government has not produced a list of trusts where A& E departments have closed or are threatened. But the Tories say they have identified hospitals in 29 NHS trusts: Ashford and St Peter's Hospitals; Barking, Havering and Redbridge; Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals; Buckinghamshire Hospitals; Calderdale and Huddersfield; East and North Hertfordshire; East Sussex Hospitals; Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals; North Bristol; George Eliot Hospital; Good Hope Hospital, Sutton Coldfield; Hinchingbrooke Health Care; North West London Hospitals; Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals; Pennine Acute Hospitals; Princess Royal Hospital, Haywards Heath; Queen Mary's Sidcup; Royal Free Hampstead; Royal Surrey Hospital, Guildford; Royal West Sussex; Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals; South Tees Hospitals; South Warwickshire General Hospitals; United Lincolnshire Hospitals; West Hertfordshire Hospitals; Whipps Cross University Hospital; Whittington Hospital; Worthing and Southlands Hospitals.  Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Times 6 December 2006
    3     Operations cancelled as NHS runs out of money. Patients are being denied basic operations, including treatments for varicose veins, wisdom teeth and bad backs, as hospitals try frantically to balance the books by the end of the financial year. NHS trusts throughout the country are making sweeping cuts to services and delaying appointments in an attempt to address their debts before the end of March. Family doctors have been told to send fewer patients to hospital, A& E departments have been instructed to turn people away, and a wide range of routine procedures has been suspended. In one example of the cash-saving strategies a PCT in Yorkshire has told hospitals that they will not be paid for some non-essential operations, while patients will not be given a hospital appointment in under 8 weeks. Similar tactics have emerged at hospitals in Norfolk and Surrey, while dozens of trusts have resorted to closing beds and offering voluntary redundancy in recent months. Devon Primary Care Trust has offered voluntary redundancy to all 5,000 staff. The cuts are widespread, although there are no central records to provide definitive figures. Among the most comprehensive plans are those from North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust, which faces a deficit of £24m this year. A letter from its chief executive, Janet Soo-Chung, says that all non-urgent admissions must be approved by an assessment team or they will not be paid for. A& E departments in Harrogate, Scarborough, South Tees and York have been told that they will not be paid for treating patients with minor ailments who could go elsewhere. No patients will be given a hospital appointment in less than 8 weeks, and none admitted for elective surgery unless they have waited a minimum of 12 to 16 weeks. Those treated quicker will not be paid for. The trust also announced the immediate suspension of treatments for varicose veins, wisdom teeth, X-rays of the back, operations for carpal tunnel syndrome, bunions, arthroscopy of the knee, and grommets for the ear, among others. Norfolk PCT has issued similar instructions, telling hospitals not to treat patients who have waited less than 17 weeks - expected to rise to 18 weeks by February. Hilary Daniels, the interim chief executive, said that the trust would not pay for elective operations on smokers until they had attended smoking clinics. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Times 4 January 2007
        5 Plea for meeting on ward closure. Campaigners are calling for a public meeting over County Durham and Darlington NHS Trust's decision to close down Bishop Auckland Hospital's Ward Three. A trust spokesman has said that admissions were down due to improved community care, the hospital has 77% of beds occupied, well below the 85% it should do. However locals believe they are receiving "short shrift" from the trust. Wear Valley District Councillor Sam Zair said: "Any plans to close wards and cut services should be put on immediate hold until the people from this community have been given the opportunity to discuss them. As far as we are concerned only a full, open, public meeting will suffice." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of BBC Online 9 January 2007
        5 Maternity care row over hospital closures in Blair's back yard. Two big NHS hospitals serving Tony Blair's constituents in south Durham are to be closed after a fierce row over which of them should provide maternity services, it emerged last night. Patricia Hewitt, the health secretary, has approved proposals to close the hospitals in Stockton and Hartlepool and build a new state-of-the-art facility for nearly 500,000 people living north of the Tees. The hospitals have a combined turnover of about £186m this year. John Carvel, social affairs editor Friday January 19, 2007 The Guardian
          Private sector to pocket £23 billion of NHS money in profits over next thirty years. The private sector will pocket at least £23 billion of NHS money in profits and interest over 30 years, according to new figures. A report warns that the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) hospital building scheme will mean big profits for private firms but fewer NHS beds in future for patients. The Keep Our NHS Public campaign, which calculated the long-term cost, accuses the Government of carrying out 'patchwork privatisation' of the NHS. 'Unlike the Thatcher privatisations of the 1980s, the whole NHS is not being put up for auction' says the report. Instead, it is being parcelled up into bite-sized pieces and handed over to private control bit by bit. This is happening on such a scale and at such pace as to make it a unique phenomenon.' The report says for the first time newly completed mainstream NHS hospitals have begun to be owned and run by private firms for profit - with the longterm additional cost borne by the taxpayer. Alex Nunns, of Keep Our NHS Public, said "Unbeknown to the public the NHS is paying astronomical sums of money to the private sector. When the NHS is making cuts and closures across the country it's time to ask if this is the best use of public money. It's time for an open debate about whether people want the patchwork privatisation of their health service." The report argued that the Government is 'transforming the NHS from a comprehensive, equitable provider of healthcare into a tax-funded insurer, paying for care provided by others'. It added 'What emerges will still be called the NHS, but it will take the form of a kite-mark attached to selected services.' Privatised healthcare tends to cost more and accountability suffers, the report added. Furthermore, private firms are motivated by profit, which leads to the 'cherry-picking' of lucrative, easy work with the NHS left to do difficult cases that cost more. John Lister, of London Health Emergency campaign group, said the report was providing data for the first time on the 'rotten deal' obtained by the NHS from PFI. He said "It's the equivalent of taking out a mortgage at 18 per cent interest rates - and you don't even own the property at the end of the day. We can't even expect a change of leader to improve the situation as Gordon Brown has been behind PFI. It's about time the public realised that PFI is a licence to print money by private consortia." Meanwhile more than 700 NHS workers face the sack at a cost of £36 million and patient journey times will double under controversial plans to close the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford. Internal documents warn of 'significant' increases in ambulance transfer times from an incident to a hospital if the Royal Surrey closed, with a prediction that journey times would double. Cancer waiting times will increase, claim the Conservatives which obtained the documents under the Freedom of Information Act from the hospital's NHS Trust. Anne Milton, Conservative MP for Guildford and a former nurse, said "This new evidence proves what Government ministers and Whitehall bureaucrats won't admit. Vital hospital services in Guildford are being threatened by short-term financial considerations." And a hospital in Teesside will close despite a pre-election promise from the Prime Minister that there was "no question" of it being shut down. A review of local health services recommended that two hospitals in Hartlepool and Stockton should close and be replaced with a single 'super-hospital'. But in September 2004 Tony Blair said Hartlepool Hospital would remain open. He said "There is no question of the hospital closing or being run down. We are there to improve it and not run it down." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of London Evening Standard 19 January 2007
        5 Blair said hospital 'would not close'. A hospital looks doomed despite a pre-election promise from the Prime Minister that there was "no question" of it being shut down. A review of health services in Teesside has recommended that two hospitals in Hartlepool and Stockton should be replaced with a single "super-hospital". The proposal, backed by the Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt has caused anger in Hartlepool, where a campaign has been running since rumours surfaced that the town's hospital could close. Hartlepool Hospital was a key issue during the campaigning in the 2004 by-election, called when Peter Mandelson stepped down as local MP to take up a role as European Union Commissioner. In an interview with the Hartlepool Mail on Sept 9 2004, Tony Blair said: "There is no question of the hospital closing or being run down. We are there to improve it and not run it down." The then health secretary John Reid also backed Hartlepool Hospital to remain open. Iain Wright retained the seat for the party, with the Liberal Democrat's Jody Dunn 2,000 votes behind. He held the seat, with an increased majority, at the 2005 general election. Now a local review has recommended that services should be provided by one hospital, accessible to people across North Teesside and South Durham, including patients living in the Prime Minister's Sedgefield constituency. The new hospital could be built within four years. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Telegraph 20 January 2007
          New nurses work for less than minimum wage. Newly qualified nurses desperate for a job are working for less than the minimum wage, it emerged today. The County Durham and Darlington NHS foundation trust and North Tees and the Hartlepool NHS trust are offering "honorary" training contracts to some nurses unable to secure other work. There is no guarantee of a job at the end of the contract, which is being run in conjunction with the University of Teesside. Staff and agencies Wednesday February 14, 2007 SocietyGuardian.co.uk
    3     This is how NHS cash crisis is biting. Cash-strapped hospitals have been ordered to remove light bulbs in a desperate bid to save money. Secretaries may also be drafted in to weigh babies at one NHS trust, while newly-qualified nurses are so desperate for a job they are reportedly working for free or below the minimum wage. In another sign of the NHS financial crisis, it emerged that some hospitals are saving money by not paying bills for healthcare supplies. Ray Hodgkinson, the director general of the British Healthcare Trades Association which represents 400 medical supply firms, said: "I have been in this industry since 1960 and this is probably the worst it has ever been. It's very, very worrying." Within the past two weeks, the St Helier general hospital on the outskirts of London and the Epsom district hospital, in Surrey, have been removing light bulbs to help cut a £3 million annual electricity bill. The Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust said: "We can confirm that maintenance staff have removed some light bulbs from the main corridors and some communal areas in the trust, as part of our financial recovery plan." A spokesman defended the move, saying "no clinical areas" - such as operating theatres and wards - were affected. She admitted the savings would only be a tiny part of cost savings, with plans to discharge patients earlier and improve operating theatre "productivity" likely to yield much more. But Tom Brake, the Liberal Democrat MP for Carshalton and Wallington, said: "This is bonkers. You could not make this up." It also emerged that the Bexley Care Trust in Kent, which wants to save £12.3 million this year, is considering training up "a range of staff" to help with weighing babies. The Amicus union expressed fears that the plan would involve secretaries. The Community Practitioners and Health Visitors' Association warned that it could leave a health visitor liable to court action or being struck off the Nursing Midwifery Council register if something went wrong. The plan came to light as the Royal College of Nursing raised the alarm over newly-qualified nurses having to work for free or for below the minimum wage. The RCN said that the Co Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust as well as the North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust were offering "honorary" preceptorship contracts to some nurses unable to secure other employment with them. The Co Durham scheme comes with a training allowance of £480 - an estimated hourly rate of £2.60 compared with the minimum wage of £4.45 for 18-to-21-year-olds and £5.35 for those aged 22 and over. There is no guarantee of a job at the end of the contract. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Telegraph 14 February 2007
  2       Hewitt approves seven PFI hospitals at cost of £1.5bn.  Patricia Hewitt, the health secretary, gave the green light yesterday to plans for seven new hospitals to be built under the private finance initiative at a cost of £1.5bn. Her decision to back the NHS's biggest ever tranche of investment will provide modern facilities for patients in Bristol, Peterborough, Middlesbrough, Wakefield, Tunbridge Wells, Chelmsford and Edmonton, north London. But it added to anxieties among health service managers and union leaders that the NHS is locking itself into repaying huge sums in 30-year deals with the private sector for buildings and equipment that may not meet changing medical needs. John Carvel, social affairs editor Tuesday February 27, 2007 The Guardian
  2       Seven more PFI hospitals to go ahead. Seven more private finance initiative hospitals, with a capital value of almost £1.5bn, were finally given the go-ahead but amid growing frustration among PFI providers at the time it is taking for the Department of Health to adjust hospital building plans to the new, more competitive, NHS market. The hospital PFI programme is being cut back from an original £12bn of additional schemes to something closer to £7bn-£9bn, according to the health department, as hospitals adjust to the uncertainty of a system that pays them for each patient they treat, in contrast to block contracts. The announcements in part reflect that. The value of the seven schemes given the go-ahead is being reduced by about 15 per cent, or by £248m on their original £1.63bn value. But although the go-aheads - for schemes at various stages of procurement - has now been given the first stage of the review was meant to be completed by late last year. And a reappraisal of 23 other schemes with a capital value of about £5.5bn, including some individual projects worth £500m and more, is unlikely to be completed before the autumn, the health department said - the better part of two years since the review of PFI projects was launched. To date, only a few PFI projects - the £1bn Paddington campus scheme, Whipps Cross and Essex Rivers - have been withdrawn. Three of yesterday's approvals - Peterborough, a rebuild in North Bristol, and a smaller project in the north-east, went through unchanged. Two more have undergone relatively minor revision. But the Maidstone deal has been cut back from a £269m scheme to £218m, while one in Mid-Essex is down from £199m to £143m. Unison, the health service union, protested that taxpayers will be "paying over the odds" for the new facilities for years to come because they have been built through the PFI. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Financial Times 27 February 2007
        5 Staff rally round to 'defend NHS'. Health bosses have been urged to listen to the concerns of demoralised workers in the area's cash-strapped hospitals. Union officials and hospital staff were among those who took part in a rally "to defend the NHS". One staff member, from the now closed Ward 52 at Darlington Memorial Hospital, said they were "gutted" when the elderly care ward closed. UNISON official Ian Daley said: "I think it is the easiest petition I have ever done." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of North Yorkshire & Teesside Evening Gazette 5 March 2007
        5 Teardrop protest. Protesters have vowed to take their fight to a higher source after Darlington councillors reluctantly accepted plans to move specialist services out of the area. A review of haematology services in County Durham, carried out independently, recently recommended the closure of the in-patient unit - ward 42 - at Darlington Memorial Hospital. Services are to be centralised at Bishop Auckland General Hospital instead. Members of Darlington Council's social affairs and health scrutiny committee were the most strident in opposition to the plans, however following a meeting last Wednesday, the committee unanimously agreed to the centralising of haematology services for all three major County Durham hospitals. In just two hours last Saturday, 1,300 people signed a petition to save ward 42 at Darlington Memorial where thousands of leukaemia and cancer sufferers have been treated over the years. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Darlington Herald & Post 22 March 2007
        5 Hospital campaign expects a victory. Campaigners who fought controversial plans to close a hospital day surgery expect to learn that they have been successful. Consultancy firm Tribal began examining the work of a Day Surgery Unit at Shotley Bridge, County Durham, four months ago to see whether it could be cost-effective. County Durham and Darlington Acute Hospitals NHS Trust had proposed to close it last August, before the publication of a government White Paper advocated making more use of community hospitals. The board agreed to defer a six month temporary closure so that Tribal's evaluation could be carried out. The results are expected to be known this week. The council says closure would break a pledge made in 1999 by the former County Durham Health Authority to maintain a full range of community hospital services at Shotley Bridge. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Newcastle Journal 26 March 2007
          Private push begins. The government has signalled its determination to increase the role of the private sector in running primary care services with the announcement that it will invite retailers to open GP surgeries in underdoctored areas. The move, unveiled by Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt, will see adverts placed in the national and local press this month calling for 'experienced healthcare providers' to apply for four contracts initially worth £30m over five years. The Government envisages major retailers or groups of entrepreneurial GPs setting up new practices, walk-in-centres and minor injuries units, potentially based in supermarkets or high-street stores, by the end of the year. The programme is to be piloted in PCT areas covering Hartlepool, Durham, Ashfield and Great Yarmouth, but a further 26 are thought to be in the pipeline. The announcement has led to fresh concerns that new privately-run services will have a competitive advantage over existing GPs. GPC member Dr Fay Wilson said GPs would struggle to compete against the private sector when tendering for services because of a lack of resources and skills in putting bids together. 'The department said this is a level playing field, but just because Accrington Stanley and Chelsea play on a level playing field does not make it fair,' she added. In Ashfield, one of the pilot areas where a new primary care centre and intermediate care service are proposed, the PCT is already in the process of consulting on setting up an alternative provider medical services practice to tackle the GP shortage. Chris Locke, chief executive of Nottinghamshire LMC, said the PCT may now have to invite tenders to set up a new practice in the light of the announcement. 'It would have to start from scratch in recruiting patients, leaving local practices feeling threatened. That's how they would bring in competition.' The new services planned include: Hartlepool - two GP practices and urgent care service; County Durham - one new GP practice; Ashfield - new primary care centre and intermediate care service; Great Yarmouth - one new GP practice. There are a total of 30 projects in the pipeline. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Doctor 27 March 2007
          NHS dentist reforms have failed, says survey. The government's reforms of NHS dentistry have failed to improve the scope and quality of the service, according to two surveys today. A year after the introduction of a new dental contract there is still "huge inequality in access to NHS dentistry", with no change in the number of people receiving treatment, according to the Citizens Advice, the umbrella group for Citizens Advice Bureaux. It estimated that nearly 2 million people were unable to get treatment. Two thirds of the 4,000 people polled in England and Wales said they ended up going without treatment due to "huge problems accessing NHS dentistry and not being able to pay for private treatment". More than three quarters of the respondents to the survey, called Gaps to Fill, said they were unable to get treatment because none of their local dentists were accepting NHS patients. Some patients said they were forced to do round trips as long as 120 miles to reach an NHS dentist. The British Dental Association (BDA) also criticised the government's reforms, backing the CAB's findings that the new dental contract has failed to improve access to NHS treatment. Its research found that 85% of 394 dentists surveyed believe the new contract has not improved patient access to NHS dentistry. Furthermore, 95% of dentists questioned felt less confident about the future of NHS dentistry than they did two years ago. Citizens Advice called on ministers to take urgent action to deal with "dentistry deserts" in some parts of England and Wales. The charity said there was a postcode lottery of NHS dental care with some areas, such as Hartlepool and Hornchurch, "spoilt for choice" and others, including Blackburn and Petersfield, having "very poor access". David Batty and agencies Wednesday March 28, 2007 Guardian Unlimited
          Rethink use of restraint on young offenders, urges coroner. A coroner called yesterday for an urgent review of the use of restraint on young offenders after a jury returned a suicide verdict on a vulnerable 14-year-old who hanged himself with his shoelaces at a privately-run secure unit. Adam Rickwood was the youngest person to die in custody in Britain for more than 50 years when he took his life after begging his mother to get him moved from the centre at Consett, Co Durham, where he had been for less than a month. A four-week inquest heard that the boy had been forcibly restrained by four staff shortly before his death three years ago, and a controversial technique designed to cause brief but sharp pain by twisting and squeezing the nose had been used to force him to go to his room. Eric Allison and Martin Wainwright Friday June 1, 2007 The Guardian
    3     700 employees face axe. Health campaigners have warned that up to 700 posts may be lost at County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust over the next three years. Thousands of staff at the trust have received letters offering voluntary severance payments. Geoff Martin, of campaign group Health Emergency, said: "Anyone who thought that the projected NHS financial surplus would draw a line under the cuts to jobs and services should take a look at what's happening in Durham and Darlington today. The cuts are still on the agenda in many parts of the country as cash surpluses are stockpiled to bail out Gordon Brown and his government when a new wave of financial pressures hit home later this year." Union officials said the severance package undercut a national redundancy package and they would be urging members to reject it. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Chester Chronicle 1 June 2007
          Children's jail staff given wider powers of restraint. The rules governing the use of restraint techniques based on inflicting pain in privately-run children's jails are to be widened to allow staff to use them to enforce everyday discipline, the Ministry of Justice confirmed yesterday. MPs and penal reform campaigners have criticised the change, which comes before the outcome of an inquest next week into the case of Gareth Myatt, 15, who died after being restrained at a secure training centre in Northamptonshire. Until now staff at the four privately-run secure training centres have been legally allowed to use physical restraint "distraction" techniques - including hitting a child's nose from underneath - only to prevent children from harming themselves or harming others, or to prevent damage to property. The use of restraint to secure compliance with staff instructions, such as getting a teenage boy to go to bed or clean his room, or as a punishment, has not been permitted in child jails until this change in the rules. Three weeks ago a coroner called for an urgent review of the use of restraint after a jury returned a suicide verdict on Adam Rickwood, 14, who became the youngest person to die in custody for 50 years after he hanged himself with his shoelaces at Hassockfield secure training centre, Co Durham. He had been forcibly restrained by four staff shortly before his death. Alan Travis, home affairs editor Tuesday June 19, 2007 The Guardian
  2       Laing seals £361 million Stoke hospitals deal. PFI specialist John Laing has reached financial close on a £361m hospitals scheme in Stoke-on-Trent, North Staffordshire. The project includes the construction of two new hospitals and John Laing is working in a consortium with Sodexho, and the contract will run for 37 years. Laing O’Rourke has been appointed to build the two hospitals. The first is an 11,000 sq m community hospital, which is due for completion in 2009 and will be known as Haywood Hospital. The second is a 90,000 sq m acute hospital to be known as University Hospital of North Staffordshire which is due for completion in 2014. John Laing has also recently reached financial close on a £300m project to develop a new acute hospital at Larbert, Falkirk for NHS Forth Valley. The company has also been appointed preferred bidder on a £75m scheme known as the Ad>ance project which is a new mental health and learning disability development in Middlesbrough. Care & Health 22 June 2007
  2       NHS chiefs to rule on hospital plan. Health chiefs from North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust are set to approve a Pathways to Healthcare document which paves the way for a single-site super hospital to replace University Hospital of North Tees and the University Hospital of Hartlepool. Although a site has not yet been chosen, the document says it must be accessible to the people of Hartlepool, Stockton, Easington and Sedgefield, and that before any changes go ahead, care in the community has to be improved. It says: "All services that do not need to be provided in a hospital setting should be placed in the heart of communities." The plans have proved controversial as people fear they will lose local services and the report warns that the scheme could face public and political hostility during consultation. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Middlesbrough Evening Gazette 25 July 2007
          GP tendering could herald new era of competition for practises. The Department of Health's scheme to get GPs into under-doctored areas, named Fairness in Primary Care procurement, is set to be the "tip of the iceberg" in opening up family doctors to competition. The scheme will see the provision of care under an alternative provider medical services (APMS) contract which will allow PCTs to specify obligations such as longer opening hours. Contracts are open to independent and third sector bidders, as well as incumbent practices. County Durham; Great Yarmouth; Hartlepool; and Nottinghamshire County PCTs are in the first group of the schemes. Ashton, Leigh and Wigan; Bolton; East Lancashire; Luton; and Manchester PCTs are in the second. A second wave scheme is also set to open up family planning and sexual health services. Independent providers Care UK, ChilversMcCrea and Clinovia have all confirmed their intention to tender for at least one of the contracts. ChilversMcCrea chair Rory McCrea said the contracts could be fitted to the populations, while forcing other practises to compete to similar standards. He admitted that some practices could see the plans as a threat. "But once they get over that they will look at what they can do to compete," he said. "Small practices can do it but it takes resources. Big companies have the financial and managerial support but small practices have know-how and local knowledge." NHS Alliance chair Rory McCrea said he was concerned that the scheme would be the "tip of the iceberg" and that there would be "creep" of such contracts into areas where there was no problem with provision. "Some competition would be good but PCTs need to be extremely subtle and sophisticated. If they try to use APMS to put a bomb under local GPs it could be counter-productive when trying to get them to sign up to practice-based commissioning." British Medical Association GPs committee chair Dr Laurence Buckman said: "While we have concerns about introducing private providers into general practice we recognise there is a need where there are no practices to do the work. We would be concerned if PCTs used this to get private providers in areas where NHS services are provided." Only two of the six pilot schemes in the Department of Health's previous drive to tackle under-doctored areas went ahead. Care UK's manageing director, Mark Hunt, said the new system was better as there was a promise of more patients to sustain a practise, there is attention to local knowledge and the whole process is more efficient. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Health Service Journal 9 August 2007
          Fly on the wall interviews: Local authority and primary care trust partnerships.  IDeA's National Adviser for Healthy Communities, Liam Hughes, introduces a compelling series of case studies that explore the relationships between councils and primary care trusts (PCTs);- Barnsley Council and PCT 17 October 2007; City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council 17 October 2007; London Borough of Brent 17 October 2007; Cannock Chase Council and PCT 17 October 2007; Croydon Council and Croydon's PCT 16 October 2007; Gateshead Council and Gateshead PCT  16 October 2007; Greenwich Council 17 October 2007; Herefordshire Council 17 October 2007; Kent Council and PCT 15 October 2007; Knowsley: joint appointment council and PCT;  15 October 2007 Lewisham Council and PCT 15 October 2007; Shropshire County Council 15 October 2007; Stockton-on-Tees Council and PCT 17 October 2007; Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council 15 October 2007.  Care & Health 18 October 2007
1         Private cancer care top-up banned. A Teesside health authority is threatening to make a cancer sufferer pay for all her treatment if she tries to top it up privately. Colette Mills, 58, from North Yorkshire, is being treated with Taxol for breast cancer. She believes her chances would be improved with Avastin, which is not available on the NHS. She is willing to fund it herself, but South Tees NHS Trust says if she did she would have to pay for all her care. This would cost an estimated £15,000 a month. South Tees Hospitals NHS Trust said in a statement: "If a patient chooses to go private for a certain drug they elect to become a private patient for the course of their treatment for that condition. That is trust policy". Summary by Keep our NHS Public of BBC 16 December 2007
        5 New Wave Of Community Hospitals And Services.  The Government unveiled a £132 million wave of new NHS community hospitals and super-surgeries, facilities will now be built or refurbished in towns and cities across the country as part of a major drive to provide NHS patients with better primary care services and more minor operations, medical tests and follow-up care outside of large hospitals. Outdated facilities set to be transformed into modern community hospitals are:  Malvern Community Hospital;  Hornsea, Beverley and Driffield Community Hospitals in the East Riding;  Selby Community Hospital;  Moreton and Bourton Community Hospitals in the North Cotswolds;  Keynsham Park Hospital in Bath and North Somerset;  St Mary's in Portsmouth;  Berkeley Vale in Gloucestershire;  St Charles in Kensington, London. There will also be a new health centre in Hartlepool that will house GP services and offer a walk-in service for patients with minor injuries and illnesses, as well as other additional services, such as maternity and diagnostic services. The state-of-the-art facilities will offer a wide range of integrated primary care and community services, from surgery to stop-smoking services, to match the needs of local patients. Care & Health 20 December 2007
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           

Heat Map North East

Community Hospitals under threat.  Map and index Telegraph 8 February 2007

Closed Threat of closure/loss of service Under review
County Durham and Tees Valley former Strategic Health Authority
  Shotley Bridge        

  PETITIONS

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Sheila Porter-Williams
Campaign for Health Service Democracy
Green Haven, Halfway Lane
Dunchurch
Rugby, Warwickshire CV22 6RD
sheilaCHSD@porter-williams.freeserve.co.uk