BISHOP Auckland Hospital has been branded a white elephant as a campaign to re-open its A&E department gets underway.
Teesdale MP Dehenna Davison and supporters gathered at the hospital last week to launch the campaign, which also aims to highlight how other parts of the hospital are being under-utilised.
She said that the government had committed to building or upgrading 40 hospitals around the country, yet a perfectly good facility is not being used to its full potential.
Ms Davison added: “This one was built for purpose with modern equipment and modern ways of medicine.
“There are wards and operating theatres standing completely empty – I think that is absolutely not good enough. People refer to this hospital as a great white elephant, but I don’t want it to be that, I want it to be at the heart of our community.
“I say, we don’t need a new one, we just want this one back.”
Cllr Richard Bell, who represents upper Teesdale on Durham County Council, also attended the campaign launch.
He said: “One of the problems we have is ambulance response times, which have always been a bit poor up in the dale, but have got a lot worse at the moment. The ambulance service is under a lot of strain.
“This is a lot closer to a lot of people in Teesdale and it makes a lot of sense to have an A&E department that is closer and therefore more responsive to people’s needs.”
Another campaigner keen to see the re-opening is Bishop Auckland resident Stephen Harris, who as a Rotarian was invited to view the facility after its construction was completed.
He said: “It was state of the art, but what have we got now? It didn’t start out as a white elephant, but it has become a white elephant.
“If you haven’t got a facility you might have a job trying to get it, but if you have got it and watch it stand being totally underused – it is a waste of a public resource.”
County councillor for Bishop Auckland Andy Jackson pointed out that the hospital had been built under a private financial initiative (PFI) scheme and people were still paying for it.
He said: “It is one of the biggest examples of waste we have.”
Ms Davison said a petition had been set up calling for the re-opening of the emergency department, which once completed she aims to hand over to the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust. She added that she is also in contact with government ministers about the issue. People can sign the petition visiting backourcam paign.co.uk/campaigns/back -bishop-hospital.
