Dear Sir,

May I thank your readers for signing the petition to Save Accident and Emergency in Darlington. Can you help spread the word by forwarding the link below to your friends, posting it on your facebook page and tweeting about this on twitter too?

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/save-accident-and-emergency-in-darlington

As you may know; Stockton’s North Tees Hospital A and E is also under threat. We need all our A and E Departments here on Teesside. As Whitehall try to bamboozle everyone by turning this into some kind of cruel competition and by claiming we have to make a choice between Darlington and Stockton, we have to make it clear we the people of the Tees Valley need both and James Cook Hospital A and E too. All 3 of our A and E Departments are very busy since the closure of Hartlepool and Bishop Auckland A and E Departments. We have to make it clear, we will not be fooled by Whitehall’s dirty tricks. We will not stand by and see one town played off against another.

Nigel Boddy