Following the re-election of Mayor Houchen, in the Tees Valley, can I please just ask, does one of his proposals have worrying consequences for the future of A&E in Stockton on Tees?
If an incoming Labour government replace North Tees Hospital with the Private Finance Investment hospital planned for Wynyard on the drawing board, should local people be asking why are there no plans to include an A and E suite in that PFI hospital development?
Should we insist plans for an A&E are now be included? Because they weren’t back in 2010, 14 years ago. This was the main reason why the scheme was mothballed.
Furthermore, like all PFI proposals, this PFI proposal is likely to cost us tax payers a great deal more money in the longer term.
In an age when we should be looking to take NHS equipment and buildings back into public ownership, building a PFI hospital at Wynyard, rented back to us taxpayers, is a very costly mistake in the longer term.
Nigel Boddy