A North East MP has demanded answers from Theresa May over the potential closure of three local urgent care centres.
Sharon Hodgson, Labour MP for Sunderland, was speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions amid news that the care centres in Bunny Hill, Washington and Houghton were threatened with closure by the Sunderland Clinical Commissioning Group.
Ms Hodgson said, “It is not good enough for the Prime Minister just to say that these are simply local decisions, because local people certainly do not want those closures. What will she say to my constituents who rely on those vital urgent care centres, and to the staff at Sunderland Royal A&E who are going to have to deal with the aftermath of the closures?”
Mrs May responded that she believes it’s “absolutely right” that decisions are taken at a local level, and went on to say, “I continue to believe that it is not right for politicians here to make a decision like that but for actual clinicians and others working in the NHS to do so.”