Doctors have celebrated the departure of controversial Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

But what will it mean for the campaign to save HRI?

Jeremy Hunt was quickly shifted to the Foreign Secretary role following the resignation of Boris Johnson yesterday.

Amid turmoil in the government, Mr Hunt’s successor was also appointed swiftly.

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It is 39-year-old MP for West Suffolk, Matt Hancock.

But with Mr Hunt apparently being instrumental in blocking hospital chiefs’ plans to demolish HRI – what does it mean for the fight to save our A&E from now on?

Mr Hunt was due to review the revised plans of Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust later in the summer.

Mike Forster, chairman of Hands Off HRI, said they “would not miss” Mr Hunt.

Hands Off HRI campaigners outside CCG meeting at Cedar Court Hotel, Huddersfield - Mike Forster.
Hands Off HRI Mike Forster.

He said: “His intervention has played a part in delaying the hospital’s plan but we think that was because of the mass campaign that we had built up brought fear in government that they were about to lose a judicial review.

“We think he was frightened of losing a key case on his watch.”

Mr Forster added: “Jeremy Hunt’s record is not impressive – he’s presided over cuts, closures and privatisation as well as provoking the junior doctors’ strike.

“He will not be missed by people in the NHS. It’s down to his successor now, but in a sense nothing has changed.

“The work we are doing campaigning and the work of the joint health scrutiny committee will determine if the hospital is saved.”

Health policy expert Peter Bradshaw, an emeritus professor at Huddersfield University, said: “Jeremy Hunt did spot that it would be depriving the people of Huddersfield of easy access to health care and that the trust’s case was not properly risk assessed. It’s to his credit that he spotted that.

“For those that really want to keep the hospital in this town it’s a good idea to try and get Mr Hancock’s ear as soon as possible and point out the flaws in the logic of the trust’s plan, that people will be treated on the basis of their postcode.

Prof Peter Bradshaw
Prof Peter Bradshaw

“It’s worth a redoubled effort of lobbying Mr Hancock.

“He is a go-getter and he will want to make things happen.”

Mr Bradshaw added: “The general thinking about Jeremy Hunt is that he is the longest serving health secretary that we have had – that means that he has been a survivor.

“There is a sense of relief among doctors that he has gone.

“They have referred to it as a belated 70th birthday present for the NHS.

“To give him his due he has managed to get a better deal for the health service than many have expected. That will be his legacy.

“He got a far better settlement. He threatened to resign if Theresa May didn’t give us an extra £20bn a year. And he got it.

“He is a technology buff which could be really advantageous in terms of sorting out the IT problems that the NHS faces and, in particular, about community involvement projects.”

Colne Valley MP Thelma Walker said: “I do hope that Jeremy Hunt is more successful as Foreign Secretary than he was as the Health Secretary. I hope we now have a Health Secretary that will listen to MPs, constituents and medical professionals.

“I have written to him today, asking for a meeting at the earliest opportunity to discuss the plans for our hospital.

“As a new Health Secretary, he needs to get up to speed fast, especially as the new plans by the Trust will be presented to him in two months time.”