South Tyneside Hospital campaigners to pursue legal bid

A protest march was staged in October as campaigners stepped up their battle

Campaigners fighting changes to maternity, children's and stroke care in South Tyneside and Sunderland have been given permission to pursue a legal challenge.

Services at South Tyneside District Hospital are to be reduced with all acute stroke services to be based at Sunderland from 2019.

Opponents described the plan as a "potential disaster".

Health chiefs said it was necessary in order to maintain patient safety.

The shake-up was approved by Sunderland and South Tyneside clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in February.

However, lawyers acting on behalf of the Save South Tyneside Hospital Campaign Group claim the public consultation process in 2017 was "potentially flawed".

The High Court has agreed the group can pursue a judicial review.

Roger Nettleship, spokesman for the campaign group, said: "Our stand is to safeguard the future of South Tyneside Hospital and its acute and emergency services.

"We believe that the proposed changes will be a potential disaster for the people of South Tyneside and Sunderland."

'Crucial changes'

Matt Brown, director of operations at South Tyneside CCG, said: "These critical changes have been about taking steps to protect services that are exceptionally vulnerable because of a severe shortage of skilled medical and nursing staff.

"The CCGs took their decision-making extremely seriously, based on clear clinical evidence.

"The local NHS has set out clearly the fragility of these services and we are deeply concerned about the additional delay that this legal process will bring."

Meanwhile, a separate scheme which would see a merger between South Tyneside and City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trusts could be completed by April, the Local Democracy Reporting Services said.

The proposal was raised in January, but collaboration between the two goes back to 2016.

Chiefs at the trusts predict it could lead to savings of up to £8m by 2022/23.

If approved, the new trust would be responsible for about 675,000 patients in Sunderland, South Tyneside and parts of North Durham and employ more than 8,500 workers.

As the merger relates to organisational structure and not services, it is not subject to a full public consultation.

Public comments can be submitted, though, until Friday 28 September.