General Election 2010: Candidates divided on future of Dewsbury Hospital

Apr 23 2010 by Barry Gibson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

PLANS for a new £29m cancer unit at Dewsbury Hospital were ditched earlier this year because of lack of funds. The future of the cash-strapped hospital is a key issue in the coming election, with some candidates claiming it could be closed. BARRY GIBSON investigates.

CLR Khizar Iqbal’s political rivals are queueing up to accuse him of scaremongering.

But the Thornhill Lees man – who is running as an independent candidate for the Dewsbury seat – is adamant that he has been proved right before.

Clr Iqbal was correct when he predicted that Mid-Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust’s ambitious plans for a £29m bowel cancer unit at Dewsbury Hospital would come to nothing.

So when he says there’s a serious threat to the future of the hospital, he believes people should listen.

Clr Iqbal said: “Based on my information, I think there is a serious risk to Dewsbury Hospital. Mid-Yorkshire Trust needs to make savings of £75m. Dewsbury Hospital is already £77m in debt, so they must be seriously considering closing the hospital.

“I challenged the trust to come up with a business plan for the cancer unit. When they failed to do so, I knew it wasn’t going to happen.

“A few weeks later the plan was dropped. I was accused of scaremongering, but I was vindicated.”

Clr Iqbal, who represents Dewsbury South on Kirklees Council, has collected 5,000 signatures in the last five months for a petition against closing the hospital.

But his political opponents don’t believe the future of the hospital is in doubt.

Conservative Simon Reevell said: “There were very ambitious plans for a cancer unit on the site which shows the trust is planning on keeping the hospital on the site.

“The PCT have said they don’t think they’ll be able to fund the cancer unit, but that’s not the same as saying they don’t have long-term plans to run Dewsbury Hospital.”

Shahid Malik, who is defending the seat for Labour, goes further.

“I’m very pleased that the hospital is secure in the long-term,” he said. “I’m angry and disappointed at some of the things being thrown around about the hospital closing. It’s dishonest politics.”

Mr Malik also criticised the Lib Dems, who have collected signatures for a petition calling for services to be kept at the hospital.