You may have seen reports in the past few days that Accident & Emergency at our town’s hospital is to change. I think this is premature.

The announcement of this came out less than 24 hours after I had a debate in the House of Commons about the future of hospital services, and the Health Minister, Simon Burns, had offered assurances that Hartlepool hospital would not close.

The changes that are being proposed will move some of the services into the new One Life Hartlepool centre in Park Road. This is welcome, because it means a wider range of health services will be provided in the very centre of town. I think that this will mean that more people from Hartlepool will be seen in Hartlepool. Other services will be provided at the emergency assessment unit on the 4th floor of the University Hospital of Hartlepool. But further services will be provided at the University Hospital of North Tees.

The manner in which this announcement was allowed to filter out into the wider realm did not convey confidence, and will worry people. As a result of this, all sorts of rumours have started – portacabins being used to treat patients, for example – which makes it difficult to communicate what is really happening and adds to the sense of confusion and concern.

These changes are part of the Momentum programme, which aims to change health services to ensure that they are closer to the patient, and carried out within people’s communities. Again, I welcome this. But the Momentum programme culminates in the opening of a world class, state-of-the-art hospital in the Borough of Hartlepool in Wynyard to serve the various towns north of the Tees.

Things changed radically when the new Government decided that they would not fund the new hospital. Although it is considered by surgeons and other clinical staff to be something that is still required to help improve the chances of people recovering from surgery and other complex medical complaints, the fact of the matter remains that we have been plunged into a degree of uncertainty which I think requires a period of pause and reflection. I would have thought that if and when the new hospital is given the green light (and this remains subject to several risks, like the Department of Health refusing to allow the private funding model to go ahead) it seems sensible that Momentum should move ahead once again.

Accident & Emergency is such an important function of a hospital. I am no medical expert, but I am told that the related medical and surgical teams pull together to ensure a seamless service for the patient. My concern is that by withdrawing A & E from Hartlepool the acceleration of the closure of Hartlepool Hospital will occur, and that we would see centralisation of services at North Tees, which is completely unacceptable.

This week there was a two-hour meeting of the Council’s Health Scrutiny Forum, which Health bosses and I both attended. I think that the Forum, chaired by Cllr Stephen Akers-Belcher, had the same views as me, and have asked for a more formal consultation that gives people the opportunity to comment on these proposals. I think that that is appropriate.

Communication about this important matter of A&E needs to be much clearer. If someone in Hartlepool has an accident, they want to know what happens, and where they should go. But at a time when we do not know what is happening with the new hospital, this decision about A&E is premature.