Hospital's A&E department return ruled out
GoogleAccident and emergency services will not be returning to a hospital which closed its department more than a decade ago, health bosses said.
The University Hospital of Hartlepool's A&E department shut in August 2011 after an eight-year campaign to save it and there have since been frequent calls for it to reopen.
University Hospitals Tees bosses said financial reasons, as well as a lack of activity, would prevent the recommissioning.
Other services at the site in Holdforth Road are expected be expanded instead, a meeting of the borough council's audit and governance committee heard.
Questions were raised if greater provision could be offered in Hartlepool amid concerns over the lifespan of the neighbouring University Hospital of North Tees in Stockton.
Speaking at the meeting, Labour's Michael Jorgeson argued the "massive site" had unused areas that could be built on.
Hospital bosses said they wanted to make "better use of" the facility and were "anticipating expanding" services, as well as delivering a "surgical hub".
However, they stressed A&E services were not expected to return due to financial reasons and the lack of activity to "justify" it.
Neil Atkinson, group chief delivery officer, said it would require "significant investment" and would create "ongoing recurring costs".
"You would not have enough activity within Hartlepool to be able to justify an accident and emergency department," he said.
The meeting also heard that work on the future of the University Hospital of North Tees was ongoing, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
Atkinson noted the lifespan of the hospital "before it gets beyond its economic life is around seven to eight years".
"We wouldn't rebuild North Tees as it is currently, we would have to do something different and then leverage opportunities about trying to put more services into the community," he said.
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