PUBLIC consultation on a controversial NHS plan which could see some North-East hospitals losing key services and others downgraded has been postponed until next summer.

The revelation that NHS managers will not consult patients and the wider public about the Better Health programme until next June prompted condemnation from MPs who fear the delay leaves health care in an uncertain state of flux. The discussions had been due to start next month.

Darlington MP Jenny Chapman said it was “outrageous” that the programme, which is expected to cost the public purse millions and aims to improve health services and reduce variations in quality of care across the region, was being dragged out further.

The MP said: “It is the worst mis-management of a project I have ever seen and it is about something so fundamentally important.

“It is completely unacceptable for this ridiculous process to be dragged out for another six months or more.”

Her comments came as details emerged of a wider NHS plan the programme is intended to feed into – the Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP), which has been prompted by NHS England.

Under the final plan for this region, submitted last week, The James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, would become a specialist hospital and major trauma centre and either Darlington Memorial or North Tees General a specialist emergency hospital.

The Friarage, in Northallerton, and hospitals in Bishop Auckland, Hartlepool and one of either Darlington or North Tees could become “local” hospitals, with only the Friarage retaining its A&E department.

The plan, which covers the Durham, Darlington, Teesside, Hambleton, Richmondshire and Whitby areas and is part of a five year forward view, suggests a potential capital investment of £115m, but also huge efficiency savings.

Meanwhile there would be a significant shift in activity from hospital services to community-based provision with current A&E activity also shifting to urgent care centres.

In the document the project’s lead officer Alan Foster, the chief executive of the North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust, says: “Our plan will deliver a transformed system for our workforce and local population, delivering robust clinical rotas with access to a full range of specialists, delivery of community hubs, speedy diagnostics and integrated teams.

“This will lead to better patient outcomes with shorter hospital stays and improved access to GPs in a financially sustainable system.”

The 49-page document explains the region is facing a £281m gap by 2021 when it comes to paying for health services.

Hartlepool Borough Council leader Christopher Akers-Belchers has written to NHS England to express “serious reservations”. He said there was a need for full transparency in the work being done and that had not been demonstrated so far.

Mrs Chapman, who has been fighting to preserve A&E and maternity services at Darlington Memorial Hospital, said there was a “chronic lack of trust” among the public and an absence of clear information about possible outcomes.

The MP said: “You do not get a straight answer, you get nothing, you get ‘No decisions have been made’. Darlington A&E is very much under threat, possibly not of closure, but certainly of downgrading.”

Referring to the Better Health programme, which effectively began in 2013 and could cost £4.7m before the end of 2017, said: “There have already been meetings, but that is not consultation apparently, it is ‘pre-consultation’ and engagement, whatever the hell that it is. It is disgusting.”

A spokesman for the Better Health Programme said: “The board has agreed that consultation on proposals for changes to hospital services will take place next year beginning in June.

“This is in line with the national process we are now following, and will allow us to carry out further engagement with stakeholders and local people.

“There are no plans to close any of our hospitals – although there will be changes to how our sites are used in the future, so that we can ensure patients are getting the highest quality of care.”