Councillors call for 24-hour A&E to be restored at Rake Lane hospital in North Shields

North Tyneside councillors have backed efforts to restore the A&E department at North Tyneside General Hospital at Rake Lane.

A motion asked Elected Mayor Dame Norma Redfearn to write to Northumbria Health Care Trust to create a task force, with council involvement, to bring back 24-hour accident and emergency services at Rake Lane. The motion also called for the walk-in centre at Battle Hill to reopen.

Former nurse, health visitor, and Conservative Mayor of North Tyneside, Coun Linda Arkley expressed her frustration with the closure of the A&E and the problems getting medical help at the Cramlington alternative poses to residents.

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Coun Arkley said: "When the application for a new hospital came in to be reviewed, people will tell you I did not support it for the reasons of losing A&E, maternity services, all the services the people of North Tyneside require. Where the new hospital is is making it hard for people to get to.

"It costs £50 return to go to that hospital. If you are pregnant or have two children, it really is a hard haul.

"We don't have anything on the ground in North Tyneside and yet we have 200,000 people here, and they require help and support. We are elected members and we should make that happen."

Political tensions rose in the chamber with the Conservative and Labour groups discussing who or what needed to be lobbied to revive A&E facilities in North Tyneside.

Mayor Dame Norma Redfearn stated the answer to the restoration of the A&E "lies in lobbying the Government" to provide resources. However, Conservative councillor Liam Bones maintained the "buck stops" with the NHS Trust.

The motion was passed with Labour amending it to include criticism of the Conservative Government's handling of the NHS for the past 12 years.

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