contacts       site map       write for us Hospital Emergency Unit to Close Staff at the University Hospital of Hartlepool have been told that the accident and emergency department will be closed in the October, 2010. North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust said much of the work will move to the new £20m One Life centre on Park Road. The closure was the subject of a leak to the press earlier in the year leading to the Hospital Trust claiming that no decisions had yet been made. The Trust then went on to e-mail all of its staff threatening them with disciplinary action if any of them talked to the press. We now know that the leak was based on firm information and that the real issue for the Trust at the time was its loss of control over the flow of information to the public. Alan Foster, chief executive of North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust, said: "What we have done today is have meetings with our staff about the changes that are proposed so we can work through and plan those changes properly. We will be giving clear advice to patients and GPs as to how the services will operate. That information is starting now and will carry on right through the summer. It is believed that the closure announcement was meant to take place during the Tall Ships Event but the possibility of further leaks forced the Trust to bring the announcement forward. The North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Hospital Trust is now being reported as shopping around for Portakabins in order to cope with the additional influx of patients from Hartlepool after October. A recent report showed Hartlepool Hospital dealt with 40,000 A & E cases a year compared to 60,000 at North Tees. read more