HEALTH chiefs are forging ahead with proposals to close the out-of-hours GP service at Richardson Hospital in Barnard Castle.
However, they will offer residents the chance to have a say when a public consultation is launched this autumn.
Proposals to shut the facility, which offers an extension of services delivered by GPs on evenings and weekends for dale residents, were put on hold in July after a backlash from councillors and the public. The Durham Dales, Easington and Sedgefield Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) said the service was in low demand.
However, it was claimed this was because of a lack of publicity.
Campaigners also say some operators of the NHS 111 phoneline, which directs patients to the out-of-hours centres were sending Teesdale residents to Bishop Auckland when they could have gone to Barnard Castle. The community hospital is one of nine hubs, providing extended and enhanced GP opening times. The CCG is proposing to close the service in Barnard Castle and Weardale, leaving a centralised out-of-ours service at Bishop Auckland.
It was announced at last week’s meeting of Teesdale Action Partnership that the process to close the out-of-hours centre at Richardson was being restarted. The CCG says it had carried out further publicity since the summer.
County councillor Richard Bell said: “One issue raised constantly is the lack of publicity at The Richardson but the CCG say they do not want people walking in off the street. They want people to go through 111. But are 111 operations directing people correctly?
“Lots of us are convince that plenty of people who could have gone to Richardson’s out-of-hours service were sent elsewhere.”
Cllr Bell said the CCG’s plan to axe the service was supported by a local GP.
Ros Evans, a member of Teesdale Action Partnership’s board, said: “What we are learning is that actually the service at The Richardson is not fit for purpose as it was intended to be.
“We have been told we have a service and then we have been told we have not used it enough – but we have not been allowed to use it. Now we have been told that it’s not going to be here any more. I find the whole thing disappointing.”
The CCG says its review has found that services are valued but is used by a few people. The CCG also says the current capacity is double the national recommended requirement. There are also concerns about retaining staff in hubs with low numbers of patients and whether the NHS was getting value for money.
Becky Haynes, who represents the CCG on the board of Teesdale Action Partnership, told the meeting that the public consultation would include events, surveys and plenty of publicity.
“It’s important to get that feedback. The local community’s views are so important,” she said. Details of how to comment are to be revealed.”
