Another hospital which may be expected to absorb emergency patients if Huddersfield’s A&E closes recorded 24 ambulance ‘black breaches’ in one month.

And one ambulance patient was left waiting almost three hours to be handed over to A&E staff at Barnsley Hospital.

The hospital may be expected to absorb emergency patients from parts of Huddersfield if the town’s A&E closes under the Right Care Right Time Right Place plan. It is though patients in the Kirkburton and Denby Dale areas may head there rather than Calderdale.

Barnsley Hospital recorded 24 ‘black breaches’ in February, where an ambulance patient had to wait an hour or longer to be checked into the hospital.

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In all the hospital recorded 18 ‘level-six black breaches’ in the month, where a patient waited 75 minutes or longer to be handed over to hospital staff.

And 10 patients, brought to Barnsley Hospital by ambulance, had to wait two hours or more, including one patient who waited 164 minutes.

The figures came via a Freedom of Information request by Holmfirth-based health campaigner Terry Hallworth.

According to the figures, there were 48 black breaches between January 1, 2015, and February 29, 2016.

And in those 13 months, there were hundreds of breaches where ambulance patients waited between 30 minutes and an hour.

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Under Right Care Right Time Right Place, Huddersfield Royal Infirmary (HRI) will be demolished and replaced with a new hospital which will have an urgent care centre, but no emergency care centre.

The nearest hospitals with full emergency care departments will be in Halifax, Barnsley, Wakefield and Oldham.

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A spokesperson for Greater Huddersfield and Calderdale clinical commissioning groups, the local NHS organisations behind the plan, said it would buy extra services at Barnsley Hospital should they be needed.

The spokesperson said: “As part of the pre-consultation business case, we have undertaken modelling regarding any possible potential impact on neighbouring hospitals of Barnsley and Pinderfields.

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“Should the proposed changes be progressed, we would work with all partners and neighbouring trusts to identify the best way to continue to provide safe high quality care for patients.

“CCGs plan and buy health services to meet the needs of their population.

“Following the outcome of the public consultation, we would adjust our plans to take account of any anticipated changes in the number of patients using this hospital.”

A spokesperson for Barnsley Hospital Foundation Trust said: “We will liaise with the NHS in Huddersfield to enable us to understand the potential impact on patient flow coming into Barnsley Hospital following the outcome.

“Should this impact upon our services we would ensure that plans are in place to deal with any increase in our activity.”