A COUNCILLOR has resigned from a health panel which he says is not properly carrying out its duties.

Councillor Bill Proud yesterday stepped down from Durham County Council's health scrutiny committee.

Coun Proud, Derwentside District Council ward member for Catchgate, near Stanley, said: "It hasn't got any real teeth and to me doesn't seem to make any difference."

Coun Proud, 55, was one of 14 district and borough councillors who make up half the committee. The other 14 places are taken by county councillors.

He joined the committee last May, but said he had become disillusioned and that health bosses did not take it seriously.

"We have got some massive problems with health in County Durham. Easington and Derwentside are at the bottom of the scale, not just regionally but nationally," he said.

"If the chief executives are not prepared to be accountable, then I can't see how things will improve."

A spokesman for Durham County Council said the authority was disappointed that Coun Proud had resigned from the committee.

"The role of the health scrutiny committee is not to police the trusts or hold them to account," he said. "There are other bodies and organisations whose role that is. The health scrutiny committee's role is to work with the trusts in promoting the improvement of health services in the county and ensuring that the public and patients are consulted.

"It has done some very useful work in this respect, and continues to do so. Just next month, for instance, it has organised a major conference to encourage the improvement of child health in County Durham."

Wynn Griffiths, chief executive of Derwentside Primary Care Trust, said: "The trust takes scrutiny seriously and believes it has a vital role in the development of high quality, accessible services for people in Derwentside."