Hospital shake-up boss Dr Steve Ollerton will be in the firing line again next week.
He will join health experts for a Question Time style debate, organised by campaigners hoping to save Huddersfield’s A&E.
Dr Ollerton, one of the leaders behind the Right Care Right Time Right Place plan, faced angry campaigners both inside and outside the John Smith’s Stadium at a public meeting earlier this week.
He was there to put forward information about the proposed future of healthcare in Huddersfield and Halifax.
Now he is to carry on the debate at St Paul’s Hall, at the University of Huddersfield, on April 26 (7pm).
Joining Dr Ollerton will be health experts and critics of the plan including paediatric consultant Dr Adnan Muhamed and chairman of Hull and East Yorkshire Hospital Trust (and former Huddersfield resident) Mike Ramsden.
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Also on the panel, chaired by Huddersfield University politics lecturer Dr Peter Woodcock, will be Regional Head of Health for union Unison, Tony Pearson.
Invites to join the panel have been extended to other directors of Greater Huddersfield and Calderdale CCGs (clinical commissioning groups), the local NHS organisations behind Right Care Right Time Right Place.
They include Greater Huddersfield CCG Chief Officer, Carol McKenna; her opposite number at Calderdale CCG, Dr Matt Walsh; Calderdale CCG Clinical Director, Dr Alan Brook; and Greater Huddersfield CCG Head Of Quality, Penny Woodhead.
The debate has been organised by #HandsOffHRI.
Campaign secretary Natalie Ratcliffe said: “The CCGs have consistently argued that campaigners against this proposed reconfiguration are ill-informed and that the CCGs have the support of the general public, GPs and staff at the hospitals.
“We believe that their consultation is deeply flawed and that their engagement process has been a token gesture.
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“With this event we would like to address their assumptions and redress the balance of the arguments.”
But Ms Ratcliffe added that the event would be a serious academic debate rather than ‘mudslinging’.
Dr Woodcock said: “I’m looking forward to a lively debate and hopefully some good questions.”
Under Right Care Right Time Right Place, Huddersfield Royal Infirmary will be demolished and replaced with a new hospital.
It will have an urgent care unit but no emergency care centre, while emergency care will be centralised at Calderdale Royal Hospital, Halifax.
The event is open to the public but entry is by ticket.
To book a place visit: http://handsoffhri.org/events/2016-04-26/peoples-question-time/application-form .
