Kirklees top Tory councillor has called for Dewsbury Hospital to pull out of the  Mid Yorkshire NHS Trust in a  bid to halt downsizing plans.

More than a month after a review into the re-configuration of  the trust’s services was completed,  Kirklees Conservatives have officially declared their opposition to  the downgrading of the Dewsbury Hospital.

The news comes the same day that campaign group Save Dewsbury Hospital revealed it had confirmation that hospital chiefs planned to cut 250 beds at Dewsbury Hospital by 2017.

A proposal to reduce services at  Dewsbury and increase expertise at  Pinderfields is currently sitting  with the Secretary of State for Health.

The plan, which will see the loss of overnight consultants in A&E, is supported by Dewsbury’s Conservative MP Simon Reevell.

But leader of Kirklees Conservatives, Clr Robert Light, said the plan was not in the best interests of patients in north Kirklees.

Clr Light said Kirklees Conservatives’ position “had not  changed” amid wide-ranging NHS shake-up announcements last  week.

He said: “We’ve been very clear for the last 15 years.“We want Dewsbury Hospital to  be taken out of the control of Mid Yorkshire Trust.

“We’re concerned that the proposals will fail to improve health services for the residents of north Kirklees and in some cases make the services and access to the services worse.

“There has been much controversy over the last ten years over the performance of the Mid Yorkshire Trust and a continual stream of changes that result in less services being offered from Dewsbury Hospital.

 “The forced marriage by the last Labour Government of Dewsbury Hospital with Pinderfields and Pontefract hospitals has led to a constant battle to prevent the Dewsbury hospital being downgraded.

“For these proposals to work the support services to primary care have to be in place and there’s no evidence they are.

“I have written to the minister asking him to take another look as there are major issues that are yet to be clarified.”

Clr Karen Rowling, Labour representative for Dewsbury West,  said the Trust had failed to be open about the level of the downgrading.

Clr Rowling, who is backing the Save Dewsbury Hospital campaign, said new figures showed Dewsbury Hospital would be cut from 360 to 110 beds while Pinderfields would grow from 730 to 810  beds.

She said: “We’ve known for a while the cuts would be big and now we’ve got the numbers confirmed.

“It’s absolutely disgusting that this detail wasn’t in the consultation.

“It said 200 beds across the trust.”

Stephen Eames, Chief Executive of The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “Throughout the Meeting the Challenge consultation process, we have consistently given the figure of around 200 fewer beds from across the three Mid Yorkshire hospitals should our proposals be approved and this has not changed.

“If the changes are implemented, more care at Dewsbury would be provided as outpatient care and short stay surgery which means fewer beds would be needed.

“However, we have also made it clear that overall the number of patients seen at Dewsbury will increase.

“This is in keeping with our commitment to ensuring Dewsbury remains a vibrant local hospital.

“As we have made clear in our consultation document, we have worked out our proposed bed numbers very carefully, and believe that we would need fewer beds than we have at the moment.

“We have taken account of the growing number of elderly people, and the overall population growth.”

But Clr Light added: “We are very concerned that over time the proposals will lead to Dewsbury Hospital becoming a subsidiary of Pinderfields and lose its ability to remain as a General Hospital.

“The Trust consistently fails to understand the practical issues facing local people in North Kirklees accessing hospital services in Wakefield and Pontefract.”