Dr Eliot Sykes, Chief Medical Officer, County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust.
Bishop Auckland Hospital has treated markedly more patients over the past three years, according to figures from County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust (CDDFT). The NHS foundation trust says the growth supports its wider plan for the hospital, which includes moving the frailty unit, Ward 7, to Darlington Memorial Hospital to create a seven-day acute frailty service.
CDDFT's figures compare 2022/23 with 2025/26. Outpatient appointments rose by 19 per cent and day-case surgery by 48 per cent. CT scanning increased by 53 per cent and MRI by 19 per cent, and the NHS foundation trust also reports growth in endoscopy and chemotherapy.
Elective surgery at Bishop Auckland covers specialties such as orthopaedics, ophthalmology and dermatology, with emergency surgery done at Darlington and North Durham. Keeping planned operations apart from the acute sites is intended to protect them from the cancellations that follow when winter admissions fill beds. Patients who spoke to Care Quality Commission inspectors last year said they were happy with their care and found staff helpful and polite.
CDDFT says the Ward 7 proposal follows the same logic. A frailty service staffed by specialists around the clock at Darlington would give older people faster consultant assessment and reduce the number admitted to hospital when they could be treated elsewhere. Dr Eliot Sykes, the chief medical officer of County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, has said frail older people should not wait hours in busy emergency departments. He has described the changes as a way of providing more care in the right place, and has said people should not fear them.
County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust has also set out assurances for staff and the town. It says there will be no planned redundancies and that Bishop Auckland will retain other step-down, rehabilitation and frailty services. The proposal is in an internal consultation, with the aim of having the relocated service running before Christmas and an evaluation planned for the spring.
The plan has attracted debate, which reflects how much the ward matters locally. The GMB union has said it will oppose the move, and a petition has gathered more than 2,500 signatures. Dr Sam Rushworth, the town's Labour MP, visited Ward 7 this month and met CDDFT's chief medical officer and chief executive. He told County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust's leaders he respects their aims and wants to explore alternatives that keep the service in Bishop Auckland. He raises the experience of the ward's nursing and therapy team, and the journeys facing families from Teesdale and Weardale. On 20 October he asked Karin Smyth, the Minister for Secondary Care, to meet him during Commons questions on community hospitals. Ms Smyth said she was happy to do so.
County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust's elective performance compares well nationally. Between October 2024 and October 2025, 69 per cent of its elective patients waited under 18 weeks against a national average of 62 per cent, and 1.3 per cent waited over 52 weeks against 2.3 per cent nationally. The Care Quality Commission rated CDDFT's surgical services good for caring and good for responsiveness. Its report, published on 12 June 2026, also rated surgery as requiring improvement overall and recorded a warning notice served on 17 November 2025, which covers staffing, escalation, record keeping and incident management across Bishop Auckland, Darlington and North Durham. The commission noted recovery plans for planned activity targets and for duty of candour compliance, which CDDFT is monitoring.
County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust's aim is to keep Bishop Auckland as a protected centre for planned and community-facing care, with acute specialist services concentrated on its two larger sites. Consultation on Ward 7 continues.
