Labour MP Barry Sheerman has called for a new medical training school to be established in Huddersfield that would attract the country’s top talent.

In the House of Commons Mr Sheerman asked Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt whether “we should have a real plan with a gold-standard university for a new medical school in Huddersfield, so that we can really attract talent?

“That would do a great deal for morale, which would lead to the recruitment of good doctors and nurses everywhere.”

But Mr Hunt brushed off his enquiry with a non-committal reply, saying: “The honourable gentleman is right to say that it is time we had more medical schools, given that health and social care will be one of the fastest-expanding areas of the economy in the coming years.”

And Mr Sheerman did not get much further when he asked Mr Hunt whether the Prime Minister, Theresa May, on a recent visit to Dewsbury, was “scaremongering” to talk of the closure of Huddersfield A&E.

Mr Hunt replied: “I think the Prime Minister was absolutely right to say that there should be no scaremongering about important local plans that will improve services for patients.”

The future of Huddersfield Royal Infirmary’s A&E remains unclear with plans to downgrade it and relocate a full A&E to Calderdale Royal Hospital.

A meeting will take place on Friday, July 21, when senior members of Kirklees Council will be asked whether it supports the proposals – or not.

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt
Health secretary Jeremy Hunt

Mr Sheerman told the Examiner: “We have a super university and now we need a Premier League medical training school.

“I thought Mr Hunt’s response was very positive and I am going to speak to Owen Williams, chief executive of Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust, about it.

“Leeds, Sheffield and Manchester have such facilities, for example, and I don’t see why Huddersfield shouldn’t have them too.

“There are all sorts of potential funding sources out there which I am looking into at the moment.”

A spokesman for the University of Huddersfield said: “The university already undertakes considerable work with the health trusts locally and trains a large number of health professionals, including physiotherapists, operating department practitioners, occupational therapists, podiatrists and nurses.

“We are always exploring a range of new course developments and from this we know that setting up any new medical training would be a complex issue, and that any plans would need to be properly resourced.”