NHS chiefs urged to reconsider shake-up

The leader of an influential health watchdog yesterday made an impassioned plea for the NHS to think again over the proposed overhaul of key services at the Friarage Hospital in Northallerton.

The statement from Coun Jim Clark, the chairman of North Yorkshire County Council’s scrutiny of health committee, came after widespread condemnation from the public and leading politicians, including Richmond MP and Foreign Secretary William Hague.

Coun Clark claimed the proposed changes are unacceptable as they do not take account of the strength of local support for maintaining full consultant-led maternity and paediatric services. Crucially, NHS officials agreed that no change was not an option, which means a consultation is unlikely to include any alternatives to retain full services.

“People in North Yorkshire are right to feel badly let down,” Coun Clark said. “As it is, the consultation will be fundamentally flawed. I urge the NHS North Yorkshire and York to think again.”

NHS North Yorkshire and York last month backed measures which would see the hospital no longer provide round-the-clock paediatric services. This would have a knock-on impact on maternity care, forcing hundreds of higher-risk mothers-to-be to give birth at hospitals further afield.

The hospital has one of the smallest maternity units nationally with about 1,250 births a year, and the primary care trust (PCT) said there could be no consultation on plans which had no prospect of being implemented. Directors agreed to press ahead with two options for a paediatric short-stay assessment unit and midwife-led maternity service with full outpatient and community services, or an alternative without the short-stay unit.

A final decision is expected to be made by the PCT next spring.

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