A RADICAL shake-up of health services in the region could be damaging for one of the country's most deprived areas, it has been claimed.

Easington MP John Cummings fears that the welfare of the people he represents will be set back if the district's primary care trust (PCT) is merged with those in the rest of the county.

The future of PCTs in the region is currently under review, in cost-cutting measures which could see those in the Durham area blended into one county authority.

But Mr Cummings fears the loss of Easington's successful trust would be damaging for what has been categorised as one of the most deprived areas in the country.

Now the MP has approached the chief executive of Durham and Tees Valley Strategic Health Authority, David Flory, to outline his concerns.

In a letter to Mr Flory, Mr Cummings said he was calling for the retention of Easington PCT because of the problems of chronic ill-health and unequal access to health services facing the local population.

He told Mr Flory that the Index of Multiple Deprivation for 2004 highlighted Easington as being one of the most deprived areas in the country with "relatively high numbers of people who die prematurely or whose quality of life is impaired by poor health or disability".

The PCT had been significantly under-funded for many years, but, following sustained lobbying, Easington's trust won a substantial cash allocation for the period of 2005 to 2008.

Armed with the extra money, Mr Cummings said the PCT had made great strides in tackling the many health difficulties facing local residents.

He also described how, while opening Peterlee's Urgent Treatment Centre, NHS boss Sir Nigel Crisp had praised the Easington PCT for its innovative work in improving the health of its population.

And he warned: "If the population of Easington is subsumed into a much larger PCT, there is in my view a very real danger that the hard won additional resources awarded to tackle serious health and deprivation in my constituency will be diluted and directed to other areas which do not have the same level of health need.