Darlington and Stockton hospital plans abandoned

Plans to downgrade either Darlington Memorial Hospital or North Tees Hospital in Stockton have been dropped.

Campaigners fought against the proposals to remove accident and emergency, paediatric and maternity units from one of the two hospitals, as part of an NHS review.

These plans were part of the Better Health Programme.

Alan Foster, sustainability and transformation partnerships lead for the North East and North Cumbria, made the comments to members of North Yorkshire County Council and said the view of the health board "had not changed".

He added: