Dewsbury District Hospital is in “crisis mode” claim local MPs.

Labour MPs Jo Cox and Paula Sherriff spoke out in Parliament last night in defence of staff working at the hospital.

And they questioned whether the time was right to press ahead with planned changes which could remove A & E services from the Dewsbury hospital, at the same time as proposing to axe services at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.

Paying tribute to the staff at the hospital, Mrs Cox (Batley & Spen) said: “I back my colleague in what she says and recognise that doctors and nurses and other staff at the hospital have been working in crisis mode for 15 months now.

“It is difficult to overstate how hard it must be for staff to go to work every day, knowing that they will miss key targets and not be able to give the care and attention that they so want to give.”

Dewsbury MP Paula Sherriff speaking in the House of Commons

She added: “As the Minister will be aware, Mid Yorkshire has the third highest number of admittances to A&E in the country. In that context, I share the concern of my honourable friend the Member for Dewsbury about the planned reorganisation and downgrade of the Dewsbury hospital. It would be wonderful to have a commitment further to discuss whether now is the time to move forward with that plan.”

Ms Sherriff (Dewsbury) revealed details of an 84-year-old man who admitted to Dewsbury hospital with stroke-like symptoms but was on a trolley in A&E for 14 hours.

Bronte Tower, Dewsbury & District Hospital. Healds Road, Dewsbury.

When his daughter visited she found that his bed was a complete mess and covered in food, and her father was naked from the waist down. When she asked why he had on only a pyjama top and was sitting on an incontinence pad, she was told that it made it easier when he needed to urinate.

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“All that, of course, has an inevitable knock-on effect on staff motivation. The results of the 2015 NHS staff survey show just how low morale has sunk. For every key indicator the results are depressing and fall well short of national averages.

“Only 54% of staff felt that the care of patients was the trust’s top priority, compared with a national average score of 73%, and 55% felt that the trust acts on concerns raised by patients.”

Mr Ben Gummer, Under Secretary of State for Health, said: “Clearly, there are historical problems in Mid Yorkshire, and they will be difficult to grapple with.

“I completely understand why the hon. Lady feels that commissioners might not yet have a full enough grasp of the problems in her area. That is why she questions the basis of the reconfiguration.

“I understand that the assurance exercise into the reconfiguration is nearing its end, and we will publish that at some point in the near future. I hope that that will provide assurance that the accelerated reconfiguration can take place.”