A public consultation on the biggest shake-up of local NHS services for a generation ends at midnight on Tuesday.
There have been endless debates, rallies and protests about the controversial Right Care Right Time Right Place proposal.
This is hardly surprising considering the £490m plan could close Huddersfield’s A&E and centralise emergency care in Halifax.
But if you want your opinion to count you will need to complete the official ‘Have Your Say’ survey. People have complained the survey is complex but health campaigners are offering advice.
Where can I find Have Your Say?
The best place to fill out the survey is online at www.rightcaretimeplace.co.uk .
If you know someone who is unable to complete the survey online, campaign group #HandsOffHRI is holding an information stand at Kingsgate shopping centre on Saturday.
They have 1,000 paper copies of the survey.
Surveys were available to order over the phone and via email but the deadline for their return is midnight on June 21.
How do I complete it?
On the face of it, completing the survey isn’t very difficult.
But campaigners, such as #HandsOffHRI, say the survey misleads applicants into accepting a clinical model where there will only be one emergency department to serve Huddersfield and Halifax.
If you do not agree with the clinical model (i.e. ONE emergency department for BOTH towns) #HandsOffHRI have published a guide to completing the survey without accepting the model.
You can read their advice here which includes a set of ‘model answers’ http://handsoffhri.org/info-and-links/consultation/
Alternative advice for objectors completing the survey, published by Calderdale and Kirklees 999 Call for the NHS, can be found here: https://calderdaleandkirklees999callforthenhs.wordpress.com/2016/06/06/please-respond-to-hospital-cuts-consultation-survey-advice-here .
WATCH: Examiner health reporter Dave Himelfield completes the survey
When and where must the completed survey be returned?
The deadline for the survey is midnight on June 21.
Paper surveys postmarked June 21 will also be accepted.
The freepost address is on the back cover of the survey.
What happens with my completed survey?
The surveys, online and paper, will be collected by independent data analysts who will crunch the numbers and report back to the clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) behind the plan.
If I fill in the survey will it make a difference?
The CCGs say it will. But if insufficient surveys are completed the CCGs may have grounds to say that the public wasn’t ‘engaged’ with the consultation – and press ahead with the plan.
As of 11am on Wednesday, 3,591 completed surveys had been received by the CCGs. That’s less than 1% of the 367,000 people living in Huddersfield and Calderdale.
