Campaign to stop closure of nursery at North Tees and Hartlepool hospitals 'has come to an end'

Campaigners fighting the closure of a hospital nursery have reluctantly thrown in the towel.

Organisers of the ‘Stop the Closure of North Tees and Hartlepool Children’s Nurseries’ campaign say it was now important for parents to secure alternative childcare for their children.

News of the campaign’s end comes as health chiefs confirmed that talks with private firms who expressed an interest in running the nursery have come to nothing.

North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust announced in September that its hospital nursery would close by the end of the year, and gave more than 50 staff 90 days’ notice.

The trust said the facility had become “uneconomic to run”. Over the past four years the trust has made a total anticipated loss of more than £765,000 subsidising the nursery.

But parents across Teesside were left reeling after the shock news of the closure, saying it would have a massive impact on their children’s lives.

Parents Jamie Picken and Debbie Ling set up the ‘Stop the Closure’ campaign and launched an online petition which garnered nearly 500 signatures in less than two days.

But this week Debbie posted on the campaign’s Facebook page that it was “with huge sadness” she was advising parents “that our campaign to save the North Tees and Hartlepool Day Nurseries has come to an end”.

She said: “Everyone involved has worked incredibly hard to try to change the trust’s decision and have followed every possible course of action available, but the outcome remains unchanged.

“It is clear the trust never had any intention to keep the nurseries open, as evidenced by the total lack of consultation with staff and parents.

“For the parents, the important thing now is to secure alternative childcare for our children.

“I strongly feel that we can no longer afford to wait because it would be terrible to be left in a situation where all the local nurseries are full.”

Unison’s Mark Edmundson said: “Given the current shortage of nursing staff at the trust, this decision will make it harder still to recruit hardworking parents to work at the hospitals at Hartlepool and Stockton.”

Health chiefs have pledged to look at start and finish times for parents in frontline healthcare positions to support them so they can continue working for the trust.

Ann Burrell, director of human resources and education for North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We have met with several private nursery providers with a view to leasing or purchasing our nurseries. Unfortunately we have been unable to secure a positive outcome from these discussions.”