Row over beds may spark campaign group revival

Four years ago, the Derwent Valley Health Campaign led marchers to the gates of Shotley Bridge Hospital, County Durham, as part of efforts to maintain NHS facilities in the area.

But, despite years of campaigning, the group was unable to stop the downgrading of Shotley Bridge Hospital and the transfer of many services to Durham City's Dryburn Hospital.

Former members of the Derwent Valley group are considering reforming their campaign in the light of the controversy over Durham City's new £96m University Hospital of North Durham.

Recently, the North Durham Health Care NHS Trust, which runs the new hospital, revealed that it did not have enough beds to meet the spiralling demands from patients.

This was greeted with anger by the health union Unison, which is calling for a public inquiry into the private funding of hospitals.

Unison believes funding of the North Durham hospital through the Government's controversial private finance initiative has resulted in fewer beds, fewer nurses and inflated profits for private shareholders.

Trust managers argue that the bed shortages would have happened even if the hospital had been built with public money, and that staffing levels are comparable with other hospitals.

Alan Homma, 37, from Crookhall, Consett, County Durham, said it was time to revive the Derwent Valley Health Campaign.

"We always said privatising the health service would cause chaos for patients and we are seeing this happening now," said Mr Homma.

A former hospital employee at the old Dryburn site, Mr Homma is linking up with former members of the campaign in a bid to revive interest.

"At the moment there are about a dozen of us, but I believe there are many others out there who would be interested in campaigning to improve NHS services in our area," he said.

Mr Homma said he was particularly interested in trying to shift resources back towards Consett.

Anyone interested in contacting Mr Homma should ring (07833) 683733.