To: Mrs Patricia Hewitt

Secretary of State for Health, Department of Health

Dear Mrs Hewitt,

I am writing to express my concern at plans approved by our Primary Care Trusts to move vital services out of Huddersfield.

The decision taken on March 22 will, in my opinion, downgrade substantially the service offered to tens of thousands of people.

Key services including maternity, gynaecology and orthopaedic surgery will be transferred to Halifax - a town linked to Huddersfield by a notorious bottleneck of a road.

Many of the services require patient transfers; on that road, those cannot be considered safe, a point supported by ambulance officers.

More than a quarter of the people in this town voiced their concerns about the planned moves during the six-month supposed "consultation" into the plans.

Those people now believe their views were ignored by a board determined to press ahead with its own proposals.

I would respectfully ask that you instigate an urgent review of the circumstances surrounding the decisions and delay their implementation until such a review has been completed.

You can compete the petition online at www.ichuddersfield.co.uk/healthpetition/