A CONTROVERSIAL plan to protect services at a North-East hospital is being hailed as a model for future health care.

The new £67m Bishop Auckland General Hospital is one of three examples of good practice given by Health Secretary Alan Milburn in new guidelines for "reconfiguring" hospital services.

The new approach calls for smaller local hospitals to be given new roles allied to more flexible working practices.

Fears about the long-term viability of the privately-built County Durham hospital led to leading expert Professor Ara Darzi being called in.

His plan to turn much of the hospital into one of the UK's first diagnostic and treatment centres to handle patients from all over County Durham has been adopted.

While obstetrics, gynaecology, paediatrics and the special care baby unit are being transferred to Darlington Memorial Hospital, the Bishop Auckland site will continue to have a midwife-led unit and a 9am to 9pm paediatric unit.

But the plan has been strongly opposed by local people, with 10,000 residents signing a petition calling for the changes to be reversed.

Ironically, Mr Milburn said the new guidelines "shows how modernisation and improving the quality of care are about working with local communities and staff to build services around patient needs".

The Health Secretary added: "Medical advance and other developments mean that change must go on in local health services, but for too long the presumption has been that biggest is always best when it comes to hospital services.

"The starting point should be to examine how to keep as many services as local as possible."