HOSPITAL bosses have drawn up plans to axe a newly-opened stroke unit serving one the region’s biggest towns, The Northern Echo can reveal.

If the move goes ahead, it could mean that all County Durham patients who need urgent treatment after suffering a stroke will have to be taken to Durham City.

At present, there are specialist acute stroke units at hospitals in Darlington and Durham.

But NHS bosses say staffing problems and the need to provide a 24-hour service has forced them to consider centralising all acute stroke services at the University Hospital of North Durham.

Details of the plan have not been made public, but The Northern Echo has obtained a copy of the proposal which is sure to provoke an angry backlash from campaigners.

It was immediately labelled “intolerable” by Jenny Chapman, the Labour candidate hoping to succeed Alan Milburn as Darlington’s next MP.

She said: “As a town, we need to give the hospital trust a resounding ‘no’ to these plans. We are the largest town – it would make sense to centralise acute stroke services at Darlington.”

The proposals would cause serious problems for “hundreds of mostly elderly patients and their carers from Darlington, who would be forced to travel to Durham”, said Coun Chapman.

The new eight-bed acute stroke unit at Darlington Memorial Hospital only opened in October, following its controversial transfer from the downgraded Bishop Auckland Hospital.

Now hospital officials say a looming staffing problem could lead to the Darlington unit being closed and all acute stroke patients having to travel to Durham City for treatment.

However, senior managers from the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust said they are still hoping to recruit an additional consultant so they can retain acute stroke services at Darlington.

The main problem has been sparked by the imminent departure of one of two acute stroke consultants at the Durham hospital, leaving one stroke consultant at Durham and two in Darlington. The site at Durham can cater for 20 people, whereas the Darlington site can only cater for eight people.

Dr Bob Aitken, the trust’s medical director, said centralising in Durham would allow consultants to meet new national standards by providing a 24-hour diagnostic service to identify patients who would benefit from clot-busting drugs.

Mrs Chapman plans to meet the chief executive of County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, Stephen Eames, to discuss the proposals.

A spokesman for County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust said: “No decisions have yet been made about any changes to the service.”

He added that the trust was looking at how to maintain the current service, including efforts to recruit staff.

Richard Mountford, of The Stroke Association, said: “Round-the-clock access to stroke units is essential and this often involves centralising emergency care – as is the case here in County Durham.

“Longer-term support and rehabilitation for stroke survivors is often more appropriate taking place in local communities.”