North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust

North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust
TypeNHS hospital trust
Region servedSouth east County Durham
Establishments
Websitewww.nth.nhs.uk

North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust runs the University Hospital of North Tees (Stockton-on-Tees), the University Hospital of Hartlepool and Peterlee Community Hospital all three in County Durham, England.

Proposals for reconfiguring hospitals in the area have been under consideration since the early 1990s.[1] A proposal to replace both existing hospitals with a new building at Wynyard is still under active consideration.[2] and services are being transferred between sites.[3] In October 2013 all emergency medical and critical care services were moved from Hartlepool (formerly Hartlepool General Hospital) to the University Hospital of North Tees (formerly North Tees General Hospital), in Stockton. The services remaining in Hartlepool are being concentrated in the central building.[4] The plans were suspended in October 2014 because of a lack of "high-level political support" ahead of May's general election. Former Stockton South MP James Wharton opposed the plans for the new hospital, arguing that £50m should be invested in North Tees.[5] The Hartlepool Mail is campaigning to have services restored to the University Hospital of Hartlepool.[6]

In July 2019 a merger with South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust was being discussed.[7] In 2022 five of the six non-executive directors resigned over the proposals for a shared chief executive post between the trusts.[8]

The trust has a £40 million maintenance backlog. A ward at University Hospital Hartlepool was damaged by Storm Ciara and had to be closed. The trust's hospitals have between 15 and 20 years before they reach their “end of life”.[9]

  1. ^ "Momentum". Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  2. ^ "Wynyard Hospital: New planning application to be submitted to Hartlepool Council". Gazette Live. 10 September 2013. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  3. ^ "Controversial plans to move hospital wards from Hartlepool to Stockton". Hartlepool Mail. 16 May 2013. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  4. ^ "Health trust to centralise services at 'ghost town' Hartlepool hospital". Hartlepool Mail. 28 April 2014. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  5. ^ "Doctors and high profile names against £300m 'super hospital' at Wynyard says James Wharton MP". Northern Echo. 16 November 2014. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
  6. ^ "Timeline of the Hartlepool/Wynyard hospital fiasco". Hartlepool Mail. 3 November 2014. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
  7. ^ "Revealed: Acute trusts in talks over possible merger". Health Service Journal. 18 July 2019. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
  8. ^ "NHSE investigating trust's leadership following mass walkout of directors". Health Service Journal. 25 February 2022. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
  9. ^ "Hospital funding call stepped up following storm damage". Health Service Journal. 19 February 2020. Retrieved 27 March 2020.