Sir
The problems in local A & E could be solved  prior to the general election and council elections if some simple decisions were taken now.
Many local councillors also sit on the board of the quangos which shut A & E at Bishop Auckland and Hartlepool creating most of the problems in the first place.
James Cook is massively under pressure, so is A and E in North Tees as was shown on television in a Panorama special. I was in the walk-in centre at Darlington A & E myself four weeks ago. The patients for A and E were in ambulances and on trolleys and forming queues out the door.
In an attempt to salvage the political careers of those who took these decisions in the first place they announce an expansion of A & E now. The expansion they propose will take months to plan and years to achieve.
Re-open the facilities we once had at Bishop Auckland and Hartlepool instead, appoint a new pediatrician at Northallerton and re open a full A & E there. The problems will then be solved.
Nigel F Boddy