Robert Goodwill met with the Whitby Hospital Action Group on the 1stof June 2012 to listen to their concerns about the future of Whitby Hospital. It was a great worry that the merger between the York and Scarborough hospital trusts could leave Whitby Hospital out in the cold. Robert resolved to write to the new trust to obtain assurances that services provided in Whitby would be part of the plan. It was also noted that large numbers of patients from the Whitby were being referred to the James Cook in Middlesbrough and therefore an alternative would be for Whitby to be a satellite of James Cook.
Because of the large site that Whitby Hospital occupies, it pays a disproportionate contribution to the NHS establishment cost and therefore coupled with the fact the hospital is not fully utilised, it means that treatment at Whitby can appear to be more expensive than elsewhere. Robert pointed out that Selby had been in a similar situation and they have managed to secure funding to build a brand new state of the art facility which not only provided cost effective treatment but also meant that running costs, such as heating were optimised.
Robert underlined his support for the Whitby Hospital Action Group and the need to maintain services in Whitby for local people and indeed to explore any additional services that could be restored to Whitby if the investment were put in.