HOSPITAL bosses have confirmed that planned surgery for aneurysms will be moved from Darlington to Durham City next month, although there has been no public consultation about it.

Officials at County Durham and Darlington NHS Trust said routine planned surgery for aneurysms – arterial weakness that could be fatal if untreated – will no longer be performed at Darlington Memorial Hospital from next month.

It will mean that all such operations – about 35 a year – will be carried out at the University Hospital of North Durham, in Durham City.

Trust officials confirmed the move after The Northern Echo received an anonymous tip-off.

The decision is in line with NHS County Durham and Darlington’s preferred option to centralise acute stroke services at the Durham City site and to close the Darlington unit.

However, unlike the changes to planned aneurysm surgery, the proposal to centralise acute stroke services is subject to formal public consultation.

Dr Robin Mitchell, medical director at the County Durham and Darlington Hospital Trust, said planned aneurysm surgery was being centralised to improve patient safety.

The move partly reflected the fact that four vascular surgeons were based at Durham compared with a single part-time vascular specialist at Darlington.

Dr Mitchell said: “Because the numbers involved are very small, the impact on the overall population is not expected to be very great.”

He stressed that it was not part of any general transfer of services from Darlington to Durham City and pointed out that Darlington would soon become a major regional centre for weight-loss surgery.

Jenny Chapman, the Labour MP for Darlington, said: “This news concerns me. If this information is correct, local services will be cut even further, forcing even more people to travel to Durham for treatment that they can now have in Darlington. Decisions made behind closed doors make a mockery of the consultation process.”

Councillor Andy Scott, the cabinet member for health on Darlington Borough Council, said: “We were aware that the NHS were considering the location of this unit.

“However, we were surprised to learn that a decision had been made to locate this in Durham. We are now speaking with NHS colleagues to discuss the full implications of this decision in relation to its impact on residents in Darlington.”