A TEAM of independent health experts has backed NHS plans to transfer emergency medical and critical care hospital services from Hartlepool to Stockton.
The plans to downgrade the University Hospital of Hartlepool and concentrate all acute services at the University Hospital of North Tees, in Hartlepool were drawn up by the North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust.
They are part of a wider strategy to move all acute services into a new hospital on a site at Wynyard, near Billingham, due to open in 2017.
Emergency medical services and critical care services work together to support acutely ill patients and those who could become critically ill.
NCAT, an independent body called in to review the plans, agreed that the changes should be made as quickly as possible.
NHS Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees Clinical Commissioning Group will launch a public consultation this month to give local people an opportunity to express their views.
Dr Boleslaw Posmyk, Hartlepool GP and chair of Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees CCG, said they had an obligation to make sure that the plans are safe, sustainable and meet the required quality standards. "We will be giving local people the opportunity to have their say in the near future," he added.
The Hartlepool hospital will become a centre for diagnostic tests, day case and low risk operations. There will also be an increase in the number of medical rehabilitation beds.
The changes are likely to affect around 30 patients from the Hartlepool and Easington area a day. An extra 120 beds will be made available at University Hospital of North Tees.
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