Hospital campaigners have urged Kirklees Council to throw its weight behind the legal battle to save Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.
At the council’s monthly meeting of all members, Jackie Murphy, a prominent Hands Off HRI (HoHRI) activist, called on councillors of all parties to get involved in their judicial review that aims to block the downgrade of the infirmary.
And she asked if the council could offer its resources, including officials and lawyers, to back the volunteers’ efforts.
Mrs Murphy said Lewisham Council had lent its power to the high profile campaign that defeated Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt’ s plans to downgrade Lewisham A&E and maternity units.
Leader of Kirklees Council, Clr David Sheard , said he would ask officers to speak to their Lewisham counterparts and investigate what they could do.
He revealed he was already sending a letter to Mr Hunt urging him to order a re-think on hospital re-structuring in Kirklees.
Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust ’s (CHFT) 163-page proposals for moving services to Halifax has been sitting on Mr Hunt’s desk for several months, but he has not yet ordered a full review by the Independent Reconfiguration Panel.
After years of requests by MPs Mr Hunt recently accepted an invitation to visit hospitals in the area.
Now Clr Sheard has directly urged him to consider a better plan.
In a two-page letter, he says the plans for Huddersfield are being dictated by historic financial issues at Calderdale Royal Hospital rather than the healthcare needs of the people of Kirklees.
His letter says the proposals do not represent the right change, adding: “They are wrong because they are isolated plans for individual NHS organisations, not plans for the place of Kirklees and its people.”
It goes on: “The NHS itself has recognised that the time has come to plan for a place, not plan for individual organisations.
“We should base our plans on this principle, where we focus on doing the right things for local people, not on what is right for individual organisations or based on history.”
Clr Sheard said hospital bosses and CCG leaders seemed to be making decisions about the location of services “based on historic PFI investment rather than clinical and population needs.”
He added: “I would urge you to look at the plans in this context and would ask that you meet with me and fellow councillors to discuss how we can develop a plan that better meets the needs of our residents rather than the needs of the current organisations.”
Clr Sheard’s letter also raises the issue of services also being transferred away from Dewsbury to Wakefield by Mid Yorkshire Hospitals Trust.
He tells Mr Hunt that Mid Yorkshire and CHFT appeared to have “contradictory presumptions...with each assuming that more people will be treated by the other trust.”
He says: “The overall impact is that Kirklees will have no major inpatient, specialist outpatient or accident and emergency services located in the communities that they are there to serve.”
