Anger at delay in decision to rebuild main hospital serving Hartlepool

Bosses at North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust were expecting an answer in spring over their £380m bid to build a new hospital to replace the University Hospital of North Tees.

But now officials from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) have confirmed it will announce the eight hospitals to be selected “later this year”.

The trust is facing a huge £288m repair backlog – with an estimated cost of £8m every year just to keep North Tees in its current condition.

Annual estate management costs have also continued to rise as the 1960s site ages – with leaking roofs and windows, broken ceiling panels and freezing pipes all taking their toll.

Both North Tees and South Tees Hospitals NHS Trust lodged bids to the Health Infrastructure Fund to be included among a further eight hospitals to be selected for a new facility by 2030.

DHSC officials say they have carefully considered the 128 bids and would be “moving to the next stage soon”.

Alex Cunningham, Labour MP for Stockton North, said: “The Tories have form when it comes to cancelling important health infrastructure projects – as Stockton knows too well after the cancellation of our promised new hospital in 2010.

“Years have passed since the Tories promised these so-called ‘new’ hospitals and yet the projects are getting kicked further down the line at a time when health inequalities in areas like ours are widening and millions of people face treatment delays. "