(Image: SARAH CALDECOTT)
Seeing the latest news regarding Bishop Auckland hospital and the proposed closure of Ward 7 and move the Complex Frailty Unit to Darlington, it reminds me of a conversation I had with a customer at a car sales garage where I worked.
The customer had bought a car from me and came back for her servicing.
We got talking about the forthcoming opening of the new Bishop Auckland hospital (it opened in 2002) and I said it would be a great advantage to the patients and staff.
This lady was a hospital sister who was going to work there and her reply was that the hospital was a white elephant.
Just you wait and see, she said, and unbelievably she was right.
The Darlington hospital has problems which have affected patients so I would have thought moving a functional ward there is stupid.
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Moving more departments to the better hospital at Bishop would be the more sensible way forward for the patients and for the credibility of the hospital's future.
Will they listen in depth to the patients this time and for once make the right decision?