THERE were celebrations in Hartlepool today after it emerged an NHS fertility clinic is to stay in the town after all.

The plan to close the town’s Assisted Reproduction Unit and concentrate on a larger one at Middlesbrough or other smaller ones across the region had met with widespread opposition in the town.

The cause had been taken up by Hartlepool Borough Council’s Audit and Governance Committee which had previously called NHS managers in to explain the plan and had taken legal action to prevent the closure in March.

But the committee was told yesterday that NHS managers had decided to keep the clinic on Holdforth Road open after all/

Chairman of the committee, Cllr Ray Martin-Wells, said: “That decision is a victory for democracy and common sense. It’s appalling the way hospital trust executives have handled this situation and I offer no apology in taking action through the High Court to achieve the outcome that this town and its people so richly deserve.”

A six week consultation process about the proposed closure was undertaken by Hartlepool and Stockton Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) which found that 58 per cent of the people who took part in the consultation said they wanted both licensed and unlicensed assisted reproduction services to remain in Hartlepool.

Ali Wilson, chief officer of the CCG, which pays for health service to meet patients’ needs, said: “We have made the decision having weighed up all benefits and risks and challenges to retain the service in Hartlepool at the hospital that we would pursue option one which was to have a comprehensive reproduction service, including the licensed and unlicensed provision to remain at Hartlepool hospital delivered by an alternative provider.”

Deepak Dwarakanath, medical director at North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust, the part of the NHS which wanted to close the service, said: “We understand this has been a difficult time for our staff, patients and their families. We are reassured that patients will continue receive the best possible care in the future.”

Only 23 per cent of 1,200 people consulted by the CCG wanted the service to move to Middlesbrough and 22 per cent elsewhere.