THE thinking behind the move to centralise rehabilitation services at Calderdale Royal Hospital and Huddersfield Royal Infirmary is understandable.

But the plans make no mention of the potential impact this will have on relatives and friends having to make longer journeys to visit them.

Under the proposal stroke rehabilitation will move from HRI to Calderdale and general rehabilitation after major operations such as amputations seems set to move the other way.

Hospital chiefs say this will provide better continuity of care without the need to transfer patients from one hospital to the other.

But surely social contact is also a critical part of what can be a very long recovery process and if people find it difficult or too costly to travel from Huddersfield to Calderdale and vice versa could this not have a potentially detrimental impact on the patient?