HOSPITAL bosses have totally rejected claims that casualty units in Huddersfield and Halifax are under threat.

They insisted there was no reason at all why the claims should have been made by the Tories' shadow health secretary.

Two accident and emergency departments in Yorkshire were said to be under threat as NHS trusts struggle with crippling debt.

The Conservatives released an analysis of the NHS which showed managers in 29 trusts across England had launched reviews of casualty services or warned departments faced downgrading or closure.

Two of the 29 were in Yorkshire - Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust and Pennine Acute Hospitals Trust.

Nationally, three-quarters of NHS Trusts had large deficits at the end of last year.

The Tories said another factor was the impact of the European working time directive, which will cut the number of hours that junior doctors could work from 2009.

Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley said: "Of course financial and staffing concerns need to be taken into account when designing NHS services.

"But so too do issues of patient safety and patient access.

"In too many places, blatant NHS cuts are being thinly disguised as measures designed to improve patient care."

Helen Thomson, director of nursing and deputy chief executive at the Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust, said: "These claims are absolutely untrue.

"We have recently undergone a lengthy reconfiguration of services and central to this was the retention of both A&E units at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary and Calderdale Royal Hospital.

" This was always the case and has not changed."