PATIENTS will have been duped if a hospital trust moves any services from Northallerton to Teesside, councillors warned.

Strong opposition would be lodged to any reduction in services at the Friarage Hospital following the review by South Tees Hospitals NHS Trust, which is working with Hambleton and Richmondshire Primary Care Trust on a five-to-ten-year plan for the hospital.

The work was prompted by the Government's Configuring Hospitals report which urged a review of services to ensure they met modern needs.

Richmondshire District Council unanimously backed a proposal by its leader, Coun John Blackie, to oppose any recommendations which would reduce the level of services currently available at the Friarage.

Members urged the trust to keep the authority informed and to hold consultation meetings across the district.

Coun Tom Burrows told a meeting of the full council on Tuesday: "During public consultation we were promised that, if South Tees took over the Friarage, we would keep all the services. The trust needs to be reminded of what it said. If they move any services then we have been duped."

Services under review include maternity, accident and emergency, acute medicine, general surgery and anaesthetic services.

A report by Jill Moulton, director of planning for the trust, said the merger of the Friarage into the trust in April 2003 was intended to secure the future of the Northallerton hospital.

Discussions had already begun on how services at the Friarage might be altered and four planning groups were examining the options.

The clinical futures board, which oversaw the review, meets again at the end of January to consider reports from the planning groups and an update goes before North Yorkshire health scrutiny committee in February.