South Tyneside health shake-up consultation 'unlawful'

A legal challenge by campaigners is being heard in the High Court in Leeds

The lack of a "do nothing" option in a consultation over health services changes was unlawful, a judicial review of the process has been told.

The choices should have included keeping South Tyneside's paediatric, stroke and maternity service as they were, lawyers said.

The planned changes are being contested at the High Court in Leeds.

Health bosses said the plans, part of the Path to Excellence reforms, were necessary to maintain patient safety.

Sunderland and South Tyneside clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) approved the changes in February, believing them beneficial to staffing, recruitment and costs.

However, Save South Tyneside Hospital campaign lawyers have accused them of running a flawed consultation.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service reported that Vikram Sachdeva QC told the court the CCGs had "whittled solutions down from a long list to a short list" on which people could comment.

However, there had been "no attempt to consider a case" for leaving services as they were, he said.

"To exclude 'do nothing' from the consultation was unlawful," he said.

The proposals include:

• Moving acute stroke care from South Tyneside Hospital to Sunderland Royal Hospital

• Changes to maternity care, with a consultant-led unit in Sunderland and a midwife-led unit in South Tyneside

• Overhauling paediatric care, with daytime emergency provision in South Tyneside and 24/7 provision in Sunderland

But Eleanor Grey QC, representing the CCGs, said a "do nothing" option was discounted during the pre-consultation phase as clinical evidence suggested it would not "lead to improvements".

She said: "There was extensive information presented [to the public] about why things cannot stay as they are.

"Just flicking through [consultation information] and looking at the headings and [the judge] will have already seen various themes.

"The gaps [in service]; ensuring quality of care; problems with CQC inspections; the need to move towards seven-day working; problems with access targets; local sustainability."

Judge Mark Raeside QC is expected to deliver a verdict on Friday.