A COUNCILLOR has quit a health watchdog committee over a closure threat to the casualty unit at Dewsbury District Hospital.

Dewsbury East Labour councillor Paul Kane has resigned from the Joint Health Scrutiny Committee, set up by Kirklees and Wakefield councils.

The committee looks into proposed changes to the services provided by the Mid-Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Dewsbury, Pinderfields and Pontefract hospitals.

It is understood the closure of the accident and emergency department is one option being considered.

Clr Kane quit saying he was unable to remain on the committee with the closure threat hanging over the hospital.

Councillors, MPs and other officials have been invited to a private consultation meeting over the future of hospital services today at the National Coal Mining Museum at Overton.

Closure has been rumoured several times over recent years and Dewsbury South Labour councillor Masood Ahmed said local people would fight it all the way.

“The last thing we want is to lose any services at Dewsbury Hospital particularly A&E.”

In a joint statement Mike Potts, chief executive of NHS Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield, and Stephen Eames, interim chief executive at the Mid-Yorkshire Trust, said work started last year on a new “clinical services strategy.”

The statement added: “Our aim is to secure high quality services that provide local people – and future generations – with the best possible results for their health well into the future.

“Through talking to people it is also clear that we need to look beyond hospitals and do things differently in GP practices and in community care.

“Many of the options being looked at internally may not be taken any further.

“It is vital to emphasise that this is part of a long process that will take us into next year.

“No decisions have been made about the long term future of any services and will only be taken after consultation with the public.”