‘Listen to Residents on Hospital Move’

AN East Yorkshire MP has urged independent experts deciding the future of Bridlington Hospital to listen to the town’s united voice.

A panel of experts is visiting the town to hear views on plans to move the cardiac monitoring unit to Scarborough Hospital.

The Independent Reconfiguration Panel (IRP) is also looking at changes to maternity services which would see babies no longer born at the hospital.

East Yorkshire MP Greg Knight said local healthcare shouldn’t suffer because of previous bad management decisions taken by the trust which runs the hospital, adding: “If this independent review is genuinely independent I would expect cardiac services to stay.”

He said he had never known an issue to unite a whole town in the way that the threat to the cardiac unit had – with the same opinion shared by politicians of all political parties, as well as GPs and the man on the street.

He added: “The first thing is that this is a relatively new hospital in NHS terms. It is not decrepit. Services should be expanded not cut back.”

Mr Knight said the panel should take account of local opinion, adding: “It is a tourist area with the population virtually doubling in the summer and it is not acceptable to say they should look to Hull or Scarborough.

“It is a rural area and to get from Hull or Bridlington or Scarborough can take an hour and during that period a tragedy may occur.

“It is much safer to have services on the doorstep which is why Bridlington Hospital was built in the first place.”

He hoped both services could be retained – but if they had to lose one he thought it would be “less damaging” to lose maternity services.

Mick Pilling, chairman of the Save Bridlington Hospital group, said people power could swing the day if the pressure was kept on.

He said: “The petition we took to London spoke volumes. 44,000 people can’t be wrong.”

The IRP got involved after the proposals were challenged by the joint overview and scrutiny committee of East Riding Council and North Yorkshire County Council. It will make its recommendations to Health Secretary Alan Johnson, who has the final say.

Meanwhile preparations are being made for a large protest march on July 26, on the lines of a demonstration last year which attracted 3,000 demonstrators.

Gina Tiller, lead panel member of the IRP review team, said: “We will be making a number of visits to the town listening to all sides of the debate and gathering evidence to ensure our recommendations are in the best interests of local people.

“We will then continue to study the evidence and views given to us by patients, healthcare professionals and other interested parties.

“Following this we will make recommendations to the health secretary by the end of July.”

The trust which runs the hospital, the Scarborough and North East Yorkshire NHS Trust, has insisted that the changes, part of a larger redesign, are necessary and will improve services.

It says the proposals will provide a greater array of services at Bridlington, particularly in day surgery, with cardiac care provide in hospitals with the right level of emergency back-up – either Scarborough, Hull or York.

The shake-up has the backing of emergency care “tsar” Professor Sir George Alberti, who has visited the hospital twice and concluded no change was “untenable”.

The IRP is also considering plans to close midwife-led “home- from-home” maternity service units at Whitby, Malton and Bridlington community hospitals and develop a separate midwife-led unit on the Scarborough Hospital site.

People can have their say by emailing info@irpanel.org.uk or by ringing 0207 3898055.

(c) 2008 Yorkshire Post. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.