Protesters are continuing their campaign to fight changes at Dewsbury District Hospital.
As health chiefs met at Dewsbury Town Hall on Thursday, protesters gathered outside.
Hospital bosses have hit the ground running with their shake-up plans after getting the green light from the Health Secretary.
The controversial plan to downgrade A&E and re-jig health services for North Kirklees is now underway.
But opposition to the plan has continued with protest group Save Dewsbury Hospital saying it might yet make a legal bid to block the move.
Supporters of the group gathered outside Dewsbury Town Hall yesterday morning as health chiefs from the Mid-Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust met inside to plot their moves.
Protesters also attended the Trust’s public meeting where health chiefs were heckled for pushing ahead with the reconfiguration.
Organiser of the protest, Dewsbury West Labour councillor Karen Rowling said: “It was a fantastic turnout given the notice we had and the time and day of the protest.
“This goes to show the level of feeling amongst local people and is another example of how the Trust and the clinical commissioners are going against public opinion.
“Thirty-three thousand people signed our petition and it is our duty to fight on behalf of every one of them.
“We are also consulting with lawyers about the possibility of a judicial review to legally challenge this verdict. This was a clear message that we definitely aren’t giving up the fight.”
Executives at the Trust say they have £23m to spend on the changes planned, including a new birthing centre at Dewsbury, and have vowed Dewsbury Hospital is very much part of their future plans.
But Birstall Tory Clr Robert Light has again hit out at the plan and dubbed the trust “inept”.
Clr Light attacked the Government’s decision and repeated his appeal for Dewsbury Hospital to go it alone.
He said: “This is what happens when those who don’t understand an area or its history are allowed to make fundamental decisions about the provision of health services for that area.”
Trust chief executive Stephen Eames said the changes would improve health services in North Kirklees.
He said £20m would be invested in the hospital and 14,000 more patients would be treated at Dewsbury by 2017.
Councillors are united against future changes at Dewsbury District Hospital.
But they were not united in the wording of a motion to make Kirklees Council’s stance official.
Health chiefs are proposing to reduce beds at the hospital from 360 to 110, cut the overnight A&E service and send more patients to Pinderfields in Wakefield.
The Kirklees Conservatives submitted a motion to full council on Wednesday calling on the council to ask Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to review his decision not to hold an enquiry, and they want to withdraw the hospital from the Mid Yorkshire Trust.
Labour submitted an amendment which included part of the Conservative motion, but added two paragraphs criticising “the current government’s policy of privatisation of our health services” and further criticising Clause 119 of the Care Bill they say makes it easier for the Government to downgrade or close hospitals without the need for public consultation.
The Labour version won the vote.
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