TORIES have hit out at a plan to merge health trusts.

The party's group on Kirklees Council claimed the proposals would lead to a worse service for patients.

NHS bosses want to scrap the three primary care trusts covering Kirklees and replace them with a single unit.

It is part of a national reorganisation of the NHS to save money, including mergers of ambulance trusts and larger NHS trusts, which oversee doctors, dentists, pharmacies and community hospitals.

Holme Valley South's Clr Nigel Patrick said Conservatives had fought hard to ensure that Huddersfield was split into two primary care trusts when they were first formed in 2002, to guarantee that people in the south of Huddersfield would receive a satisfactory service.

Slamming the shake-up, he said: "Funding allocation for the three former trusts will be channelled into the more deprived areas, and in this instance that means north Kirklees, and a reduced service provision in south Huddersfield.

"I am in favour for improving things for those in the north, but this should not be to the detriment of those in the south, many of whom also live below the so-called poverty line."

Consultation on the proposals is running until March 22.

Fifteen NHS trusts in West Yorkshire could be reduced to five in a plan which would save £13.2m a year in management and administrative costs.

Mike Farrar, chief executive of West Yorkshire Strategic Health Authority, said: "This is an opportunity to make sure that the NHS in West Yorkshire is in the best possible position at a local level to enable it to provide a patient-led NHS."