THE senior doctor in charge of the Friarage Hospital in Northallerton has mounted an impassioned defence of the recent changes to its emergency services.

Dr Adrian Clements, the Friarage Hospital’s medical director, said the change of the hospital’s A&E department to a 24/7 Urgent Treatment Centre was the best way forward for the hospital and its patients.

He said he was “proud of” and “had confidence in” the system that had been put in place, describing it as innovative and which was in many respects an enhancement of the old service, particularly in relation to the treatment of children.

Under questioning from Richmond MP Rishi Sunak, Dr Clements urged people to get behind the new arrangements.

He said the Urgent Treatment Centre and acute services model “had been built by the doctors at the Friarage because they believe that is the answer for the future,”, adding: “An awful lot of work has gone into this model and I believe this is the right one.”

Darlington and Stockton Times:

The changes at the Friarage were made on March 27 as an emergency measure because the hospital did not have sufficient anaesthetists and critical care doctors, despite spending thousands of pounds on recruitment advertising campaigns.

The changes are billed as temporary because, by law, a public consultation has to be held before they can become permanent.

Dr Clements, who is also deputy chief executive of the NHS trust which runs the Friarage, said it was vital to move on with the new arrangements in order to the recruit the appropriate staff to sustain the hospital into the future.

He said: “The doubt we have about the [status] of the model moving forward is one of the things that impedes recruitment.

“So I would ask people to get behind this model.

"We believe very, very strongly that it is a good model. It will deliver high quality care for the local population.”

Darlington and Stockton Times:

Dr Clements said the first few weeks of the temporary arrangements had gone well with more than 90 per cent of patients who would have been treated at the Friarage under the previous system still receiving their treatment there.

The James Cook Hospital in Middlesbrough and the Darlington Memorial Hospital had been able to treat the small number of additional patients who had been sent there, he said.

He dismissed rumours that the James Cook emergency service had closed because of pressure of patient numbers.

Dr Clements said: “The James Cook emergency department has never closed in my memory so I don’t know where those rumours come from.

"It just hasn’t happened.”

The Yorkshire Ambulance had been very supportive in providing extra ambulances, he said.

Darlington and Stockton Times:

Earlier this month, Mr Sunak enlisted the help of healthcare management consultancy firm Carnall Farrar to scrutinise plans for the future of the Friarage.

Mr Sunak said: “I want to make sure we have left no stone unturned in this process as we seek to protect services at the Friarage. "It is important that we have independent advice to help us scrutinise the Trust’s actions and what the doctors tell us about their vision for the future of the hospital.”

He said he had asked Carnall Farrar to produce a report on the Trust’s plans for the Friarage by the end of this month and their findings will be made public.

In March the Save Friarage Hospital campaign group instructed specialist public law experts at Irwin Mitchell to investigate and help them take action to prevent the proposals.