Plans have been drawn up to close an A&E department serving Huddersfield people if staffing numbers become critically low.

The plan would see Calderdale Royal Hospital shutting its A&E overnight with patients being sent to Huddersfield.

This is because all the critical care support units such as Intensive Care Unit and the Coronary Care Unit are still at Huddersfield.

Ironically, under controversial plans Huddersfield will lose its A&E with that and all the critical care support units due to be switched to Calderdale.

Under the plans Huddersfield Royal Infirmary would be demolished and replaced by a new hospital on the other side of Acre Street with just 64 beds. It would also see the loss of almost 500 jobs.

Huddersfield Royal Infirmary, Accident & Emergency Dept. Acre Street, Lindley, Huddersfield.

Its A&E would be shut and replaced by an urgent care centre. This would mean the A&E would only be at Calderdale Royal Hospital which would be expanded to take all the acute services such as intensive care.

At the moment the health trust is paying out a fortune each month on an expensive Private Finance Initiative that was used to pay for Calderdale Royal Hospital and the debt is crippling its finances.

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Calderdale Royal Hospital was built for £64m as part of a PFI agreement signed in 1998.

But the deal is expected to cost the trust £774m in repayments by 2058. It is now costing the Trust £22m a year.

Helen Barker, Chief Operating Officer for the Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Trust, said: “We have continuity plans in place for all our services to ensure safe care for our patients continues during an emergency situation. As part of this we have a business continuity plan for the temporary overnight closure of Calderdale A&E should we be unable to secure safe staffing levels. Calderdale A&E would be the one to close overnight as trauma and surgery is provided at Huddersfield.

"This has been prompted by the ongoing national shortage of middle grade doctors.”

Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.

The authority has revealed that it is finding it increasingly tough to get staff for its two A&E units, especially locum doctors.

New tax rules mean they would earn less per shift than they used to get.

A Trust spokeswoman added: “The shortage of middle grade doctors and our reliance on locums has been exacerbated by the HMRC IR35 rules around who can be classed as being self-employed and the tax and national insurance consequences of this on individuals.”