EXAMINER readers have already sent in 6,000 copies of our letter but we want more!

Sign the letter (below) and return it to us and we'll forward them to Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt and let her know how strongly the people of this town feel about their hospital.

We are convinced the MPs have a case and deserve our support.

We're planning to join MPs Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield), Kali Mountford (Colne Valley) and Mary Creagh (Wakefield) in a deputation to see Mrs Hewitt.

The MPs - and the Examiner - want her to urgently review the controversial decisions taken by the primary care trust boards in Huddersfield, which sounded the death knell for services such as maternity and gynaecology in this town.

And the Examiner plans to be there with the MPs in the heart of Westminster, armed with the backing of thousands of our readers.

To: Mrs Patricia Hewitt

Secretary of State for Health, Department of Health

Dear Mrs Hewitt,

I am writing to express my concern at plans approved by our Primary Care Trusts to move vital services out of Huddersfield.

The decision taken on March 22 will, in my opinion, downgrade substantially the service offered to tens of thousands of people.

Key services including maternity, gynaecology and orthopaedic surgery will be transferred to Halifax - a town linked to Huddersfield by a notorious bottleneck of a road.

Many of the services require patient transfers; on that road, those cannot be considered safe, a point supported by ambulance officers.

More than a quarter of the people in this town voiced their concerns about the planned moves during the six-month supposed "consultation" into the plans.

Those people now believe their views were ignored by a board determined to press ahead with its own proposals.

I would respectfully ask that you instigate an urgent review of the circumstances surrounding the decisions and delay their implementation until such a review has been completed.

Yours faithfully

Name .............................................................................

Address ..........................................................................

......................................................................................... ......................................................................................... * Return your completed letters to: Health Petition, Huddersfield Daily Examiner, PO Box A26, ueen Street South, Huddersfield HD1 2TD. Or you can post them in our drop-off collection boxes at Kitsons in the Piazza and Ryans in High Street. You can download this letter from www.icHuddersfield.co.uk/healthpetition