HTH has been informed from more than one reliable source that the North Tees and Hartlepool, NHS Hospital Trust will finally close the University Hospital of Hartlepool in August 2012 - one year after the opening of the controversial One Life Centre. Irrespective of any announcement regarding the possible new build of the proposed hospital at Wynyard, the Hospital Trust is set to announce the closure in May next year which will allow the statutory 90 day consultancy period for any staff facing redundancy. Staff have been warned to say nothing to the press under threat of disciplinary action. It’s believed that the closure has been brought forward one year as a consequence of the severe financial restraints under which the Hospital Trust is operating. The Hospital Trust needs to find £16m in savings next year in order to keep itself afloat. It is hoping to sell the land at the Hartlepool site to developers in order to help alleviate its current financial situation with some of the money raised being used to improve facilities at its North Tees Hospital. It is understood that preparation is already under way with the, as yet unannounced, closure of the Birthing Centre set to take place soon into the New Year. The timing of the planned announcement is bound to cause controversy as it planned to take place around the time of the local elections though it is unclear if will be made before or after those elections. The news comes as the local PCT is to try and make another attempt to publicise the facilities offered by the new One Life Centre after yet more cases of confusion and misdiagnosis were revealed recently. Election Nightmare for Councillors The planned announcement could not come at a worse time for many Hartlepool Councillors whose performance in defending the retention of Hartlepool Hospital has been viewed as complacent at best. In September, a public meeting was held in Hartlepool College of Further Education with council Chairman Carl Richardson promising several times to forward any unanswered written questions to the Hospital Trust but he then failed to do so. Astonishingly, Mr Richardson had to be prompted by the Hospital Trust to forward the questions after they realised that they hadn’t received them. In May, the number of council seats is set to be reduced from the current 47 to 33 as a result of boundary changes to council wards and all Councillors will be up for re-election. The prospects of any sitting councillor will inevitably be affected by closure of Hartlepool’s last remaining hospital