Anger as ward at Hartlepool Hospital closes October 19, 2004
Posted by in : News , trackbackResponding to the news that Hartlepool Hospital Gynaecology Unit is to be closed just 15 days after the by-election, Jody Dunn says:
“This closure announcement will be seen as the people of Hartlepool as disgraceful and highly cynical.
“It is now widely accepted that this Government will say and do anything to win elections. After all that Tony Blair and John Reid promised, we now have this announcement of ward closure.
“The Lib Dems had real foundation for concerns about the hospital – we are sad to be proved right in this way.
“I will be looking for an early meeting with the hospital authorities.”
Gynaecology patients admitted to the hospital were previously treated in the ward, but will now be cared for in a female surgical ward. The move has been rapped by Dave Armstrong, regional officer for UNISON, who says the decision is a downgrade of services.
He criticised Hartlepool’s new MP Iain Wright, who pledged there would be no downgrading of services in last month’s by-election. Mr Armstrong said: “It’s disappointing considering the guarantees that were being given during the by-election campaign.
“If you’re going to improve services, you make services in addition to existing ones, you don’t replace them. It doesn’t sound to me like it’s an improvement, it sounds like it’s a re-jig of resources.”
Comments
Sorry comments are closed for this entry