'A victory for patients' as plans to close Hartlepool's Hartfields Medical Centre are withdrawn

The future of Hartfields Medical Centre, at Bishop Cuthbert, has been in doubt since talks first began over its fate in 2021.

The premises reopened to patients in January 2022 after being temporarily shut from mid-March 2020 due to Covid-19.

Yet its operator, the McKenzie Group Practice, was still debating whether to apply to permanently close it and consolidate services at its other sites, leading to a second stage of public consultation over its future in 2022.

McKenzie Group subsequently submitted an application to the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) in August which would have seen Hartfields close on Mondays and Wednesdays.

The ICB Tees Valley area directors’ group, however, has now rejected the latest proposals.

An ICB report ruled McKenzie Group had not “clearly articulated any positive or adverse impact” of the proposed changes on patients.

In response, a McKenzie spokesperson said: “We are disappointed by the ICB’s decision not to approve the practice’s proposal but we understand their reasoning and have now withdrawn the application.

“Our aim is always to provide the best possible care to our community and all our decisions are made with this in mind.

“We have taken a number of steps to ensure we can continue to provide a high quality service for patients, including recruiting additional members of staff and enhancing the level of support provided to our clinicians.

“The practice remains open five days per week and patients can continue to use our service in the usual way.”

Hundreds of people signed a petition against the plans with campaigners pointing out that many of the centre’s 2,000-plus patients were residents of the adjoining Hartfields retirement village.

Christine Ward, 75, who has lived at Hartfields alongside her husband for 14-and-a-half years, welcomed the decision.

She said: "I am so pleased to hear that the surgery is staying open. It will make such a difference to many many people in Hartfields, myself included and my husband.

“It's a positive outlook we have been fighting for, and I think people deserve it too.

“There are a lot of disabled people in Hartfields and we rely heavily on our GP surgery and it's not easily accessible to go anywhere else for our people.

Mrs Ward added: “I would just like to thank all those involved in helping to keep it open because it seems to me that it is fully deserved."

The outcome was also welcomed by Councillor Jonathan Brash, chair of Hartlepool Borough Council’s audit and governance committee, which worked with residents “to ensure their voices are heard”.

Mr Brash, who is also Labour’s prospective Parliamentary candidate for Hartlepool, said: “This is a victory for patients and I pay tribute to those campaigners who have fought so hard to keep this vital health service open.

“We need to bring services back to our town, not lose more and this is the right decision.”