A PUBLIC march is to take place between hospitals across the region in protest at pending health cuts.

The Footprints March for the NHS starts from the Friarage Hospital in Northallerton and makes its way to Darlington Memorial Hospital on October 22. Over the half term the march will make its way to hospitals in Bishop Auckland, Shotley Bridge, Durham, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough and Stockton.

Along the route organisers will stage rallies, public meetings and other events to highlight their concerns.

It is being planned in response to a pending reorganisation of health services in the North-East and North Yorkshire.

Organisers say, once implemented, the plans will lead to more NHS privatisation and further cuts to the health service within County Durham, Darlington, Teesside, Hambleton, Richmondshire and Whitby - an area identified as “Footprint 3” by NHS England.

Local NHS bosses must submit their draft Sustainability and Transformation Plan to NHS England by October 21.

Jo Land, one of the Footprints march organisers, said: “All the health services in our footprint are at risk and we believe that we can only save the NHS services that our life may depend on by standing together and fighting for all of them.

“We are organising this march because we believe that these planned cuts are going to mean the end of the NHS as we know it."

She added: “People will have to take out insurance and pay private healthcare companies for the services that are no longer available to them.

“Trust bosses are saying that concentrating services on fewer sites will improve patient care, but what about when patients don’t arrive at A&E within the ‘golden hour’ that can save your life? What about when people without transport can’t access services? What about when there just aren’t enough staff or beds to go round and people are denied care?”

There has already been widespread concern in County Durham and North Yorkshire that A&E and maternity services may move out of Darlington Memorial Hospital to Durham and Middlesbrough.

The Friarage Hospital in Northallerton has already lost consultant-led maternity and paediatric services.

The draft version of the region’s sustainability plan states: “The Accountable Officers have a consensus on the need for 7 hospital sites however, the designation of the sites need to be subject to radical change to deliver more specialist care from fewer sites for services to remain safe and clinically and financially viable.”

It goes on to say the NHS does not have enough money to continue as it does over the next five years, lacking £30 billion, and the healthcare system is costing “significantly more" every year, partly driven by an "ageing population with multiple and complex care needs.”

An itinerary for the march is available from; 999nhsnortheast.org/where-are-we-marching