A POLITICIAN is urging health bosses to shelve controversial plans to close the A&E unit at the University Hospital of Hartlepool in three months time.

Town Labour MP Iain Wright has called the decision "premature" and wants the plans put on hold until the future of a planned new £464m hospital at nearby Wynyard which was shelved by the coalition Government is sorted out.

Mr Wright also wants assurances that the latest announcement will not speed up the full closure of the town's last remaining hospital.

He said: "The announcement about A&E came less than 24 hours after my debate in the House of Commons about the future of hospital services, when the Health Minister said that Hartlepool hospital would not close.

"There will rightly be anxiety about this decision across Hartlepool.

"It is essential that people in the town are given clarity and reassurance about what this will mean for themselves and their families if they have an accident.

"The fact that some of A&E's functions will be moving to the new One Life Hartlepool centre, in Park Road, is welcome, because it will mean that more people will be seen by specialist staff right in the centre of town. I want to see more emergency cases being seen in Hartlepool, rather than having townspeople travelling to North Tees.

"But health trust management cannot be rushing to implement all the Momentum programme of health services when we don't know what is happening with the new hospital.
"Things changed when the Government announced the decision to scrap the new hospital and it is right that health bosses reflect on whether services should continue as they are during the current confusion about the hospital's future.
"Accident and emergency is such a central part of the functions of a hospital, that there is a risk that this decision will accelerate the closure of the University Hospital of Hartlepool.

"This cannot be allowed to happen when there remains such uncertainty about whether a new hospital will be built at all. This decision is premature. Health bosses must delay this decision until we have greater assurances about what is going to happen."
North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust, which runs hospitals in Hartlepool and Stockton, said cover would be provided at the new £20m
One Life facility, in Park Road, while an emergency assessment unit would operate out of the hospital.

The changes are part of the momentum: pathways to healthcare programme.
Trust chief executive Alan Foster said: "We
are committed to making
the moves under the momentum programme to transfer minor accident and injuries services to One Life Hartlepool and to bring
999 blue light medical emergencies to the emergency
assessment unit at the University Hospital of Hartlepool.

"It will result in a faster, more responsive service for patients.

"We have a team of very skilled staff in accident and emergency who will still be the people providing those services at One Life
Hartlepool so local people will still receive their services from people they might already know."