Calderdale and Huddersfield bosses have refuted a claim that their A&E units were closed on Tuesday.

Around 500 members of the audience at the first meeting of the campaign to save Huddersfield Royal Infirmary were told patients had been diverted to Keighley as the hospital was full.

Chair of the meeting, Natalie Ratcliffe, said several hospital sources, including an A&E nurse, had said the hospital had been closed to new patients due to a “black alert.”

A spokesperson for the hospital trust admitted they had been very busy but said no such alert had been issued.

They denied they had closed to new patients or that any had been diverted to Keighley or any other hospital.

The official trust Twitter account also tweeted a denial just after 1pm.

It said: “@CHFTNHS want you to know, neither Huddersfield or Calderdale A&E has been closed this week and we have not directed patients to Keighley.”