Mike opposes proposal to close Stroke Unit after high level leak to Labour Councillor

8.00.00pm GMT Wed 13th Jan 2010

Darlington Memorial Hospital, where the Health Trust plans to close the newly opened Stroke Unit

In a statement to a Special Darlington Council Cabinet Meeting on Tuesday evening, the Chief Executive of the Council said she had been informed late last week, by the Chief Executive of the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, that consideration was being given to the possible closure of the Stroke Unit at Darlington Memorial Hospital. This information was shared with Labour Councillors and leaked to the Labour Party's Parliamentary candidate. She took it to the Echo, which blazoned her across its front page. The Echo chose not to approach opposition parties for their views.

At the Cabinet meeting, the Leader of the Council asked for cross-party support to oppose this plan. Cllr Mike Barker, representing the Lib Dems, was pleased to give his support to any efforts the Council would make to save this Unit. It must be said, though that the bare-faced cheek of the Labour Leader calling for support from the opposition parties so soon after excluding the opposition parties from this issue was quite disgraceful.

As Mike said in Cabinet, any such closure would be completely unacceptable. The tendency to remove health services from local areas and place them in centres often many miles from patients is not good for local patients and is too often carried out as a cost-saving exercise with no consideration of the effect on health provision where it is actually required.

Mike was happy to give his unqualified support to any attempts by the Council to stop the closure of this unit, though he remains deeply unhappy about the way in which the issue was used by people at the very highest level within the Council for party political advantage, especially when this sort of health issue affecting our town is one which should be fought by all political parties without trying to score points off each other.