A HOSPITAL could be built in the region as part of a health care shake-up, it was revealed today.

Ken Jarrold, chief executive of County Durham and Tees Valley Health Authority, revealed that a hospital could be built between Hartlepool and Stockton.

He said people were jumping to conclusions if they thought plans to rationalise healthcare on Teesside would inevitably lead to the closure of the University Hospital of Hartlepool.

Opponents of any change to the Hartlepool hospital had their fears confirmed early this week when health bosses agreed there should eventually be only one major hospital in the North Tees area.

But following a meeting of all parties involved in the Tees services review, including a number of invited members of the public, the health authority stressed that the closure of the Hartlepool hospital is only one possible option.

Mr Jarrold said: "I think people are jumping to conclusions. If changes are approved there would have to be a detailed option appraisal and one of those options would be the selection of a site."

The authority chief executive said existing sites would have to be compared with the advantage of building a completely new hospital.

"If you think of a site big enough for a new hospital I think it is most unlikely that would be within an existing urban area," he added.

This may lead to an option of closing the general hospitals in Hartlepool and Stockton and building a hospital on a greenfield site.

"The most likely location would be between Hartlepool and Stockton. That is definitely an option," said Mr Jarrold.

He said any firm proposals, including the option of retaining both hospitals but operating one as a centre for acute care and the other as a planned surgery centre, would go out for public consultation.

Local authorities now have the right to refer proposed NHS changes to the Health Secretary who in turn could refer the plans to an independent "reconfiguration" panel.

Proposals are expected by summer but radical changes would take at least another seven years, Mr Jarrold added.

He stressed that the way of running hospitals had to change to meet new limits on doctors' working hours.