We are group of concerned citizens fighting to save Northallerton's Friarage Hospital's A+E services and we need your support in challenging the decision to close this critical service. 

Closing the A&E at The Friarage will put lives at risk

South Tees Trust has proposed the temporary closure of our local Accident & Emergency, Critical Care and Emergency Surgery. We need YOUR help to ensure that South Tees Trust has fully explored all options before permanently removing this vital service.

We want to be confident that this decision isn't another stepping stone in the continuous downgrading/removal of services at the Friarage Hospital since merging with the Trust in 2002. The commitment and investment we were promised prior to the merger simply hasn’t materialised.

We believe the model proposed is unsafe and unrealistic in the unpredictable environment of healthcare and that lives will be lost as a result. If you agree that we need transparency from the South Tees Trust about the future of our hospital please contribute now and share this page with your friends, family and on social media.

The impact of the closure has simply not been properly considered

We have grave concerns about the impact of the closure and we feel the following issues have not been adequately addressed and remain a HUGE concern in relation to the closure;

• Travel / transport - particularly of unwell patients between hospital sites and those requiring urgent care outside of the 08.30-18.30 medical admission times with no air ambulance available after dark.
• Ambulance response times – the ambulance services are already struggling to meet national target response times in our area. (http://www.ambulanceresponsetimes.co.uk)
• Ability of James Cook University Hospital to cope with increased patient flow from patients diverted from the Friarage Hospital; Particularly when James Cook has a history of diverting to the Friarage when fully occupied.
• The training which will be provided to staff at the UTC at the Friarage Hospital in respect of paediatric cases which present with minor illnesses.

Why are we challenging this closure and what action are we taking?

We believe that as a publicly funded body the South Tees NHS Trust owe the people of North Yorkshire a FULL explanation as to how this crisis has arisen.

If not financially motivated we feel the trust can accomplish this by providing evidence of the efforts which they say they have made to recruit the handful of Doctors required both nationally and internationally.

With help from specialist public lawyers at Irwin Mitchell we are challenging the legality of the decision to close this A+E service.

This is a huge challenge but if we work together we believe that we can win. We have no time to lose and we need your help.

What We Need

We have set a starter fundraising target of £5,000 to cover legal costs to:

• Provide initial advice on the prospects of a judicial review after reviewing the documents.
• Engage in correspondence with the relevant CCGs and NHS Trusts to obtain disclosure of relevant documents.
• Analyse responses received from the relevant CCGs and NHS Trusts and obtain advice on our rights and the merits of a legal challenge.
• Commission expert evidence in support of the claim

PLEASE:

• Donate what you can; every penny helps!
• Share this page with friends, family and social media networks.

What do we want?

The campaign group is working with public law solicitors at the law firm Irwin Mitchell, in order to investigate potentially serious legal flaws about the way which the decision to suspend the A&E service has been made. We are working with Irwin Mitchell to assess whether we can bring a public law challenge to the proposed changes, by way of judicial review proceedings.

What’s happened so far?

A formal letter before action has been sent to the Trust and CCG setting out our concerns with the decision which has been taken and requesting disclosure of documents which are relevant to the decision. A formal response is currently awaited.

We hope you can support us in ensuring that these changes have made lawfully in the best interests of the people the Friarage hospital serves. The people of North Yorkshire need and deserve services which are SAFE, SUSTAINABLE AND LOCAL.

Please contribute whatever you can or share this page with your family, friends and colleagues.