An NHS expert has backed Karl Deitch’s move to keep the Hands Off HRI campaign focused on local health chiefs.
Mike Ramsden, a long serving NHS executive, has been an outspoken critic of the plan to downgrade Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.
Mr Ramsden, who was brought up in Holmfirth and recently retired as the chairman of Hull and East Yorkshire Hospital Trust, has now joined the campaign as chairman.
He said: “People must understand these plans are produced by the two clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and the hospital trust.
“They’re not imposed by anybody else, therefore it’s important that we oppose this at a local level.
“We’ll be letting the CCGs off the hook if we say it’s all the fault of the government, because it isn’t.”
Mr Ramsden said he admired how Mr Deitch, a security system contractor from Golcar, had handled the campaign so far.
“I’ve been extremely impressed with how he’s presented things so far,” he said. “He’s an ordinary guy that just feels these plans are wrong.
“I think that’s what men and women in the street recognise and want.
“Karl asked me to chair the campaign group and I said I would do if that’s what people thought would be helpful.
“Where I can help is bring an understanding of how the NHS operates.
“That’s what I want to do, not fight local battles about who best represents the NHS.
“The politics of it all are of no interest to me. I want to do what I can to get the CCG to see sense.
“I do believe it’s entirely appropriate to work with MPs of whatever political persuasion to oppose these plans.
“But I have no desire to be involved in political machinations.”
Mr Ramsden has also hit back at claims that he was an advocate for privatising the NHS after posts on social media highlighted that he is the director of private firm Waring Health.
Mr Ramsden said the company was a consultancy with two GPs that provided training for family doctors overseas – most recently in Libya.
He added: “I’ve worked in the NHS since 1977, if anybody thinks private sector involvement is a new thing they’re sadly mistaken.
“There’s always been a private element and my stance has always been the same.
“The public sector does not have a monopoly on best practice in the NHS, neither does the private sector.
“The NHS is a service funded out of taxation that’s free at the point of need.
“There aren’t many examples of wholly public sector operations.
“GPs are private contractors and have been since the NHS came into existence in 1948.
“Maybe people don’t realise that GPs aren’t employed by the NHS?”
