WILLIAM Hague has added fuel to the fight to save children’s services at Northallerton’s Friarage Hospital by urging clinicians to “consider the full spectrum of alternative solutions.”

The Richmond MP expressed his concerns at the distances some patients would have to travel if a consultancy-led maternity unit was no longer available at the Friarage Hospital.

The controversial proposals to downgrade paediatric and maternity services at the hospital are currently being discussed at consultation meetings across the Hambleton and Richmondshire area.

The Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), chaired by Dr Vicky Playdell, is the body conducting the meetings and will eventually make a recommendation on what will happen to the services at the Friarage.

A report into paediatric services at the hospital by the National Clinical Advisory Team made earlier this year recommended an out-patient only unit - and as a consequence the maternity ward would no longer be sustainable in its current form.

Mr Hague said: “I share the deep concerns that many residents have over the proposed changes at the Friarage. Patients already have to travel long distances, often through difficult rural conditions, and this would be made worse if they had to travel all the way to the James Cook University Hospital for consultant-led maternity services.”

At a meeting between the CCG and Richmondshire District Council on Wednesday, Dr Playdell said the services at the Friarage would have to change because of problems in staffing middle grade doctors.

Dr Fiona Hampton, head of paediatrics at South Tees, said: “The Frairage is the only hospital in the country with no middle grade doctors.

“There are only junior doctors who are training to be GPs, not paediatricians.”

The effect of having too few paediatricians at the hospital would be to convert it to a midwife-run service - meaning that all high risk births, including first time births, would have to go elsewhere.

Mr Hague said: “The Friarage is the single most important provider of health care services in Hambleton and Richmondshire.

“It is crucial that any proposed changes to paediatric and maternity services give the utmost consideration to the possible dangers and inconvenience of patients having to travel longer distances.

“I welcome the current public consultation process and I continue to encourage the Trust to set out a clear and positive vision for the Friarage.

“I call on them and the CCG to consider the full spectrum of alternative solutions to ensure these vitally important local services are maintained.”