Campaigners urge hospital bosses to be more transparent over downgrade plan

CAMPAIGNERS FIGHTING the downgrading of hospital services in West Yorkshire have urged hospital bosses to be more transparent with their plans.

But they fear that health chiefs are unwilling to share any updated information that might compromise the controversial shake-up of hospitals in Huddersfield and Halifax, which would se Huddersfield lose accident and emergency services and its hospital replaced with a smaller site.

Senior managers with Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust (CHFT) have just over a month to finalise details before they must report back to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

Mr Hunt has previously referred to a report by the Independent Reconfiguration Panel (IRP) which highlighted “a wide variety of failings which call into question the benefits of this scheme and the way in which the process has been managed”. He asked for a response in three months – by August 10. But despite being addressed by campaigners, and quizzed about timescales by councillors at a meeting of Kirklees and Calderdale’s Joint Health Scrutiny Committee, hospital bosses remained tight-lipped. Anna Basford, director of transformation and partnerships at CHFT, said the trust “wanted to do the right thing regarding consultation” with the public. She added that the status of the business case had not changed, but that the trust was looking at a phased rather than one-step approach “to address concerns”. She said the phasing option had risks and benefits but stressed “we do not have an agreed position at this moment in time”.

Cristina George, from the Hands Off HRI campaign group, said the failings identified by the IRP and highlighted by Mr Hunt offered “a real opportunity to go back to the drawing board”. Referring to a workshop set to take place prior to the final submission, she said campaign groups should be represented, saying a failure to do so would be “a lost opportunity to demonstrate transparency”.