A Huddersfield born doctor has described plans to close A&E as a “big mistake”.

Terminally-ill Dr Kate Granger has spoken out against the controversial plan to shift casualty down the Elland bypass to Calderdale Royal Hospital from Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.

The proposal is part of an extensive re-configuration of hospital services, which could see the infirmary demolished.

Dr Granger, 34, hit the headlines three years ago after she vowed to tweet about her cancer from her deathbed until the bitter end.

Her campaign to get hospital staff to introduce themselves, dubbed ‘Hello My Name Is’, has been adopted by hospitals across the country.

Dr Granger said she was born at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary and it was the hospital for most of her family in the Colne Valley.

Writing on Twitter, she said: “This proposed closure is a big mistake”.

Recently qualified as a consultant in caring for the elderly, Dr Granger said the proposal hadn’t considered changes at Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, where she works.

Health chiefs there have already been given the green light to downgrade Dewsbury A&E and focus emergency care at Pinderfields in Wakefield.

Dewsbury District Hospital
Dewsbury District Hospital

“I can’t understand how it’s going to improve care,” she said.

“It worries me that this is being done for financial reasons rather than for patients.

“If you do have to centralise care it’s about choosing the right place to do that.

“All I can see is it’s being done because of a PFI deal that’s gone wrong.

“I don’t see how locating emergency care in Halifax is going to improve care for people in Huddersfield.

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“People will be dying up on the Ainleys and on the by-pass.

“Huddersfield is already the trauma centre and it’s the bigger town.

“I would have thought it was the obvious choice.

“It’s even more worrying with Dewsbury A&E also being downgraded.”

Dr Granger, who was awarded the MBE last year, continues to be treated for terminal cancer but is working when she can.

She said she would be supporting the #HandsoffHRI campaign on social media.