Members of the Save the Friarage campaign group have vowed to continue a legal challenge against the closure of hospital’s A&E unit, despite calls for the action to be cancelled.
Last week, the former chairman of an influential health watchdog backed a call by an NHS boss for the group to abandon the judicial review.
Councillor Jim Clark, who has battled to retain key hospital services at the Friarage Hospital in Northallerton for more than a decade, said he believed the time and energy of the Save The Friarage Hospital campaigners would be better spent on shaping a public consultation over future services at the infirmary.
The previous month South Tees NHS Trust medical director, Dr Adrian Clements, told North Yorkshire County Council’s scrutiny of health committee, he wanted campaigners to drop their battle as it was costing an “awful lot of money”.
However, the campaign group has today issued a statement saying they will continue the legal fight.
The group says it has been advised by its legal team not to comment further ahead of the judicial review reaching court.
However, it said wanted the public to know that it would continue the action.
Members said they strongly believed “as over 4,500 social media supporters do, along with the many members of the public who have contacted them” that the judicial review was” essential to assist in ensuring that the correct course of action was taken when the temporary closure of the A&E department, the critical care unit and the surgical ward was made in March of this year”.
The statement added: “We would like to reiterate the fact that as British taxpayers who indirectly pay for the NHS service, (we) deserve to have these questions answered by the South Tees NHS Foundation Trust that have gone unanswered for so long.”
The campaigners are asking for donations towards the legal action to be made at www.crowdjustice.com/case/savethefriarage/
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