North Tees & Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust have announced that they are to close the Haematology ward at North Tees hospital. The reason given is that they have been unable to recruit sufficient consultants to meet the needs of their patients.
We want them to cancel this closure and to vigorously renew their efforts to recruit the necessary staff.
Why is this important?
The people of Teesside and the surrounding area have a higher than average incidence of complex blood disorders. This is almost certainly due to the history of chemical manufacturing in the area.
The Haematology Ward has eight beds and caters for those patients with the most complex needs, usually when they are at crisis point. The current staff are all totally dedicated to improving the well-being of these patients and are devastated by the news of the planned closure.
Although there are currently no plans to close the Haematology Day Unit at North Tees, the loss of the Haematology Ward will mean that patients will not receive the vital continuity of care that they must have when their condition requires a stay in hospital. Instead it is planned to send them to either South Tees or Sunderland.
It is unbelievable that the Trust plans to throw in the towel. What next?
The NHS faces death by a thousand cuts. Please help to stop this being one of them!
Link to the article on http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/haematology-unit-university-hospital-north-7774622?ref=BreakingNewsTeesside&utm_medium=facebook
How it will be delivered
The next North Tees & Hartlepool NHS Trust board meeting is at 1.pm on 23rd October 2014. These meetings are open to the public so we could present them there. However, this is a long way off and this is urgent as the current staff have already been told to start applying for other jobs.
Sending the petition signatures via email will not be enough. We will investigate alternative methods of delivering the petition.
