MORE than 5,000 people have signed a petition to demand that a hospital ward under threat of closure stays open.

The petition, which was organised by local councillors, residents and the Unison trade union, calls on NHS bosses to retain Bishop Auckland General Hospital's ward three, the future of which is under review.

The petition was presented to John Saxby, the chief executive of County Durham and Darlington Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, and Bishop Auckland MP Helen Goodman, as the two met to discuss the future of the ward last Saturday.

The NHS Trust, which manages the hospital, is considering closing ward three because many of its 28 beds are too often empty.

Coun Sam Zair, one of the leading supporters of the campaign to keep the ward open, said: "Ward three is one of the busiest wards in the hospital. It's a medical ward and for the rest of the hospital to function, you need to keep as many medical beds as you can."

Mrs Goodman said she also wants ward three to stay open, and called for a plan setting out how services at the hospital could be improved. "Until we have this plan it would not be sensible to take decisions about ward three," she said.

Edmund Lovell, a spokesman for the NHS Trust, said it is considering closing ward three "because of changes in the way healthcare is delivered, which we have to respond to."

Several local residents have contacted The Advertiser's sister paper, The Northern Echo expressing concern that the whole 300-bed hospital, which cost £67m and was opened in 2000, faced being closed.

Billy Eales, 49, of Bishop Auckland, said: "I don't believe what they say about the hospital staying open. Closing ward three will be the death knell for the hospital as a whole."

However, Mr Lovell said the trust had made "a long-term commitment to the future of the hospital."

Mrs Goodman said she was reassured by the statement and added that she wants health ministers to help other groups in achieving high standards of care and value for money at the hospital