Owen Temple

Effective date: November 28th 2007

Well done Healeyfield Parish Council for organising a meeting to explore the future of our very valuable local hospital, and well done Laura Robson, Edmund Lovell and John Arthurs for venturing out to Derwentside to hear what local people think of the run down they feel is going on.

 The packed meeting made its feelings very clear, and if assurances were few and far between, at least these senior personnel from the Acute Hospital Trust will be very clear on local opinion;

• Local people believe that the facilities at Shotley are deliberately being run down by the Acute Hospital Trust
• To a man and woman it is determined that people in Derwentside should continue to be served by the facility
• People want their elderly relatives and friends to get their post-operation recovery care at Shotley Bridge, not shipped out round the county. They are angry at the closure of Ward 4 which leaves insufficient beds to cater for Derwentside patients
• People want the day surgery provision to be maintained and extended. They do not believe that Derwentside is unique in the country in having a declining need for Day Surgery
• We want assurances that the Minor injury unit will be retained

Now the District Council needs to play an equally public role in insisting on making the voice of local people be heard in the stakeholder group consultation which the Primary Care Trust has promised to undertake. You can be assured that I will be pressing the District Council to make good its promise of all-party inclusion in that group.