The boss of one of the North East's first privately-funded NHS hospitals has quit - reportedly over plans to merge services.

Steve Mason, chief executive of the troubled University Hospital of North Durham, is stepping down after 18 months in the job.

The Bishop Auckland hospital has been heavily criticised for staff and bed shortages, and a catalogue of technical problems.

North Durham Labour MP Kevan Jones said Mr Mason's opposition to merged services "cost him his job".

We have a hospital in Bishop Auckland which should not have been built

North Durham MP Kevan Jones

In a statement Mr Mason, 40, said he was sad to leave his post and urged staff to work together.

The services of NHS trusts in North and South Durham are merging, despite warnings from senior consultants that patient care will suffer.

Angela Ballatti, chair of the new merged trust, said she and her colleagues wished Mr Mason well.

But Kevan Jones said Mr Mason had been forced out of his job.

He said: "The fact of the matter is that health care is going to be moved from my constituency to south Durham.

"I think Steve would have argued against that and that is the reason he has been forced to resign.

"It's also about the fact that we have a hospital in Bishop Auckland which should not have been built."

Staff and unions claim the �98m hospital, officially opened by Prime Minister Tony Blair in July, is too small, has too few beds and does not meet patient needs in Durham.