Bishop Auckland General Hospital

Bishop Aukland General Hospital is a small but very modern NHS district general. Much of its catchment area is rural. It was opened in 2002 and then had around 286 beds but its bed number varies all the time. There has been much controversy over the recent 'decline of services' in this hospital. The hospital is part of the County Durham and Darlington Foundation Trust. The issue which made much controversy was the loss of the special care baby unit(SCBU) Special care babies are now cared for at Darlington Memorial Hospital. Ward 3 (Haematology) was also closed down, and surgical beds were greatly cut and now only relatively minor surgical procedures are carried out at this hospital, many of which are day cases.

Despite all this the overall quality and use of services in the trust (County Durham and Darlington foundation trust) was rated as 'good' by the HealthCare Commission Ratings. The other two main sites in the trust are Darlington Memorial Hospital and University Hospital of North Durham.

Services provided
Bishop Auckland General Hospital still provides an A&E department, performs elective surgery and day surgery, and has a range of acute medical specialities including diabetics, endocrinology, cardiology and respiratory medicine. It has a Critical Care unit containing ITU and CCU beds. It provides general rehabilitation care to inpatients. The hospital also has a stroke unit and a rehabilitation daycare centre and a chemotherapy day unit.