HALTON has never had proper intensive care cover, a Warrington consultant has claimed.

Dr Andrew Higginson said the hospital didn't have round-the-clock cover from fully qualified intensive care consultants - unlike Warrington.

"If one of my relatives had collapsed in Runcorn or Widnes, I wouldn't have wanted them to go to Halton Hospital," said Dr Andrew Higginson.

He was telling councillors why Warrington consultants didn't think Halton's intensive care unit should re-open after last summer's shock closure.

He said: "The truth is that these were never two perfectly good intensive care beds.

"Intensive care is not a bed or a building or a unit. The care patients were receiving is not what I would call intensive care and that was a product of history."

He was speaking at Halton Council's health, policy and performance board meeting last Tuesday - and he visibly angered some Halton staff sitting in the public gallery.

The meeting heard Warrington has 24-hour consultant cover for its intensive care unit while Halton had more limited cover.

Halton's unit closed on July 1 last year after two Halton Hospital consultants left and Warrington consultants refused to continue covering for them.

Chief executive Ian Dalton said he was deeply disappointed the intensive care unit closure hadn't been resolved and added: "The issue needs to be brought to a successful conclusion. It's gone on, quite frankly, long enough."

He wants the regional critical care network to carry out a review of the situation.

He said a majority of consultant opinion at the trust was that the level of care was not up to what was needed, but that a significant minority based at Halton disagreed.