THE fight to save a threatened hospital ward was almost derailed by a split among county hall chiefs.

There was unanimous support for plans to oppose the planned closure of ward six at Bishop Auckland Hospital when Durham County Council met this morning.

But despite this, councillors struggled to agree how they should go about it.

A motion by Liberal Democrat councillor Mark Wilkes called on the council to request a formal intervention by the Government.

He said: “We will all have different views on the ways to fight it, but I believe there are no other options than to call on the Secretary of State for Health to intervene now.

“We need to come out all guns blazing as a county and do whatever we can to stop this closure – time is critical.”

However, Cllr Lucy Hovvels, cabinet member for adult and health services, said she thought the motion was "premature" and tabled her own amendment.

Instead of going directly to the Health Secretary, this proposed allowing the council’s scrutiny committee to consider the plans in detail first.

The hospital ward is run by County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust as a step down ward is for patients who are not ready to go home, but don’t need the full services of an acute hospital.

Cllr Hovvels’ amendment also praised the work of Bishop Auckland MP Helen Goodman, who was due to present a petition opposing the closure in Parliament tonight.

But this was attacked by some councillors for politicising the issue – an accusation which had been levelled at both sides by the end of the debate. Cllr Richard Bell, leader of the council’s Conservative group, said: “Helen Goodman’s petition talks about funding cuts, this issue is primarily one of the health trust’s management and the contempt it has shown for the process so far.

“The health authority has had numerous opportunities to bring Bishop Auckland to the table, but they have pressed ahead with a secretive and underhand plan to close the facility.

“I think we need to put a marker down and send a strong message that this sort of behaviour, treating scrutiny and the people of this country with contempt, is not acceptable.”

While opposition councillors largely supported Cllr Wilkes’s original motion, Labour members of the council backed the alternative proposal to follow existing council procedure.

Helen Lynch, the council’s head of legal services, told the council while there was nothing stopping voting to write to the health secretary, the scrutiny committee already had the power to do that itself.

Crook councillor Andrea Patterson argued failure to do so risked making the council ‘look stupid’ and concerns could be ‘disregarded’ by the government.

After two votes on amendments, 69 out of 100 councillors present voted in favour of adopting Cllr Hovvels’ changes.

Eight councillors voted against and 23 abstained from voting.

The final motion passed read: “The council confirms its support for the campaign led by Helen Goodman MP and local people in relation to the closure of Ward 6 of Bishop Auckland Hospital, planned by the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust’s plan.

“It notes that the matter is due to be considered by the Adults, Wellbeing and Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 15 November and calls on scrutiny to provide a thorough examination of what has been carried out and to investigate further how services can be retained.”