A NORTH MP who claims she has been pressing health authorities for information for more than a year is using freedom of information rules to obtain the figures she wants.

Helen Goodman, who is fighting against a proposed downgrading of Bishop Auckland General Hospital, said yesterday she had run out of patience with the County Durham Primary Care Trust and County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust.

She said: "I have been asking the local health authorities for over a year now to provide me with figures and information to back-up their proposals, but they have still not done so.

"I am exasperated by their attitude and have had to submit an FOI request to find out even basic information such as the number of people who use each service at BAGH, how much the trust’s proposals will cost, and what additional resources will be needed at each hospital.

"This information must be in public domain prior to any final decision, and I cannot understand why the trust have refused my repeated requests".

She wrote to PCT chair Lady Calman expressing reservations about the current Seizing the Future consultation, claiming that some questions were ‘loaded’.

She told her: "The consultation document is utterly inadequate, lacking in evidence and biased toward the trust’s proposals.

"How much will the consultation will cost? How many people has the consultation reached, and how have you [the PCT] sought to encourage public engagement in this process? I still have not received answers to any of these questions."

Ms Goodman was one of the speakers at a public rally in Bishop Auckland on Saturday when 800 protesters opposed the trust’s plans.

Public consultation ends on January 12..