Private firms have shown no interest in a £284m care contract in Kirklees.

The Examiner revealed last month that Greater Huddersfield Clinical Commissioning Group (GHCCG) and its North Kirklees counterparts had invited bids to provide community health services.

NHS campaigners feared the move would see a flood of private firms battle to take control of Kirklees’ care.

But it has now emerged just two bids have been received for the so called “Care Closer to Home” contract – neither of which is from a private firm.

One bidder is the existing contract holder Locala – a not-for-profit social enterprise.

The Examiner can now reveal that the other application to run the multi-million pound contract is a joint bid led by hospital chiefs at Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust.

The hospital trust has joined forces with Mid Yorkshire Hospital Trust, Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice and two GP Federations based in Huddersfield, Rowan Healthcare Ltd and PHH.

An NHS campaign group welcomed the news but said it remained opposed to the tendering process.

Paul Cooney, secretary of Huddersfield Keep Our NHS Public, (HKONP) said: “We oppose the tendering of the Care Closer to Home services in the community.

“We believe that health services and social care should be provided by a merged national health and social care service and see no place for other private organisations, including social enterprises like Locala, to play any part in the provision of healthcare.

“If we were to accept that other organisations should be involved then that would speed up the further dismantling of our NHS and other companies, including profiteering ones, would play a part in this.”

Mr Cooney claimed there was “no clear evidence” the project would reduce the need for hospital services – the stated aim of managers at the two CCGs.

He added: “Nobody can deny that the planned changes are really significant and the public’s voice needs to be heard.”

At the recent public Governing Body meeting of GHCCG, GPs and officials agreed to abandon plans to consider Huddersfield and North Kirklees-only options for the contract.

The decision was easy as there were no bidders for the latter and only one bid for the former.

They are now reviewing the two bids for the Kirklees-wide contract and expect to announce the winner early in the new year.

Locala’s contract expires in March next year.

The Care Closer To Home contract will take on and develop further the services currently operated by the Batley-based community nursing firm – including health visitors, speech and language therapy, district nursing, foot care and physiotherapy.