AN MP has has written to the boss of the NHS calling for more cash to help recruit desperately-needed doctors at a Northallerton hospital.

Richmond MP Rishi Sunak has asked Simon Stevens, the chief executive of NHS England, to allocate funding to overcome difficulties the Friarage Hospital has in recruiting emergency care doctors, particularly anaesthetists.

The future of the A&E and critical care services at the hospital are under threat due to a lack of staff and the local NHS launched a campaign in the summer in an effort to attract overseas clinicians to fill vacant posts.

Nationally, the NHS uses a Recruitment Retention Premium (RRP) where hospitals or trusts struggle to attract particular grades of staff whereby a pay supplement is given to an individual postholder or groups of jobs.

In his letter to Mr Stevens, Mr Sunak says the situation at the Friarage is now critical and asks that the hospital be considered for RRP funding.

He said: "Six positions in critical care/anaesthetics are currently vacant and the South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has been struggling to fill them for some time.

"For the sake of half a dozen vacancies the entire hospital stands to lose its critical care facility."

He adds: "As you appreciate, losing critical care will completely change what the hospital means to the area – it will no longer be a functioning hospital where very sick people can go, or indeed most surgery can be conducted."

Because of the difficulties the Trust has had recruiting doctors, some current services are at risk of being unsustainable.

The Trust is currently carrying out an engagement exercise with the public explaining the difficulties and is likely to put forward proposals to make changes to services in the New Year.

Mr Sunak's intervention follows a meeting he had with Health Minister Phillip Dunne to discuss the situation.

Mr Dunne had told Mr Sunak about the Recruitment Retention Premium and said the Friarage could be an appropriate recipient of the funding.

In his letter, Mr Sunak also requests a meeting with Mr Stevens and the Trust to solve what he describes as an "eminently fixable situation".

He concludes: "All that is needed are around six new doctors which will essentially make the difference between the Friarage having a bright future as a rural hospital or yet more downgrades to this beloved local institution.

"If there was ever a place that this RRP fund could make a real difference then it is the Friarage. I cannot imagine where this public money could be invested with a greater return."

Mr Sunak has been campaigning to retain the emergency care services at the hospital since the summer when the Trust first indicated it was having difficulty staffing some of the doctor rotas at the Friarage.