Councillor Owen Temple

I understand that Shotley Bridge Hospital is to be "discussed" at the Derwentside District Council Meeting at 6.00 pm on September 25th. Make a point of contacting your councillor to let him or her know what you think.

Try to get to the meeting to make sure that your feelings are voiced (after checking that Press and Public are not going to be excluded). What we need is a head of steam where community and councillors act together and spur each other on in positive support of the Hospital and its role in our community's healthcare.

The Tribal Report does make some very significant points, and may point directions in which the hospital should go.

We need a positive outlook about how the facility can be developed for better health care in our community because we will not return the Hospital to the General Hospital status it once had. There is, however, scope for improved and extended day surgery and outpatients provision if an imaginative approach is taken, and if local GPs and hospital consultants (as well as neighbouring NHS trusts) are engaged positively in the process.