Following on from meetings earlier this year on health service provision, I met last week with regional health chiefs and put forward my views on the problems Hartlepool people have experienced in travelling to hospital services at Hartlepool, North Tees and James Cook hospitals.

Over the next month I want Hartlepool residents to let me know of your experiences – both good and bad – and these views will be fed in to the Pathways to Health consultation, which is charged with looking at health services and bringing them into the community. I will also share the findings with Hartlepool Borough Council’s Neighbourhood Services Scrutiny investigation into the quality and availability of transport links in the Hartlepool and Stockton area, chaired by Councillor Stephen Akers-Belcher.


I want the views and experiences of real people about the ways they manage to get to hospitals, whether as a patient or a visitor. I have said in the past that transport links between local hospitals are poor and need to be improved. But if townspeople tell me their experiences and their wants for hospital transport I can use my influence to shape services.

I feel that people in our town have a tendency to ‘make do and mend’, with many relying on friends and family for lifts. I want to know what people think would improve transport links to health services, whether it is improved bus links or a more personalised dedicated hospital taxi service. I want to be able to present evidence to scrutiny and health bosses which supports what I have told them - that we need to take practical steps now to make transport links better. Services should be shaped around peoples’ needs and that is why I’m asking the people of Hartlepool what they think.

People can send me a text, write to me, leave a message on my website or contact me through e-mail about their opinions and experiences. This evidence will be collected and presented to the Council’s scrutiny investigation and to the chiefs of health services in the North East.

Contact details:

By post Iain Wright MP, 23 South Road, Hartlepool, TS26 9HD

By e-mail wrighti@parliament.uk

By text 07504 306460

Through this website: www.iainwrightmp.org.uk

Today Iain announced that he was stepping down from his position as Chair of Hartlepool Partnership.

After three years as Chair, Iain resigned from the position to comply with the Ministerial Code. The town’s MP was recently given the post of junior Communities and Local Government Minister by the Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

According to the Ministerial Code, published in July 2007,
“When they take up office, Ministers should give up any other public appointment they hold. Where exceptionally it is proposed that such an appointment should be retained, the Minister should seek the advice of their Permanent Secretary.”

Iain said

“I had a meeting last week with the Permanent Secretary at the Department of Communities and Local Government, where I am now a Minister, to discuss my position as Chair of Hartlepool Partnership. His strong advice was to adhere to the Ministerial Code. I do not want to do anything which could possibly compromise the Partnership or leave it open to any form of criticism. I therefore feel it is in the best interests of the Partnership if I resign as Chair.

I have greatly enjoyed my time as Chair, and believe that the Partnership has done a lot for the town over the past few years. I will remain a strong advocate of Hartlepool within the Government and I wish the Partnership the very best in the future.”