AN MP whose constituents could face a 60-mile trip to their nearest consultant-led maternity unit has warned health bosses that downgrading the service in Darlington would amount to a “breach of trust”.

Richmond MP Rishi Sunak has written to Darlington Clinical Commissioning Group urging caution as it conducts a review of services.

He said downgrading obstetrics at the Darlington hospital would be contrary to the “explicit understanding” given to North Yorkshire residents that provision at Darlington would continue when maternity services were changed to midwife-led at the Friarage Hospital, Northallerton, in 2014. Mr Sunak said: “Going back on these commitments would be a significant breach of trust.”

Councillor John Blackie, who led the campaign to retain consultant-led services at the Friarage, said if the Darlington service was downgraded, it would mean all three promises made by North Yorkshire NHS bosses two years ago would have been broken.

While the nearest hospital from some parts of Richmondshire is Lancaster, the route often became impassable in winter.

Mr Sunak said journeys to Darlington from parts of his constituency took more than an hour, and 90 minutes to the James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough.

He said: “A return journey of over three hours is surely not compatible with the NHS’s ambition of moving healthcare closer to home.”

He said downgrading Darlington’s maternity unit “would add yet more travel time to people’s already very long journeys and would not be justified by existing medical evidence”.

The MP added he had received a “firm commitment to the future and development of the A&E service at the Friarage”, from NHS bosses.