Dewsbury and Mirfield MP in hospital row

The Wakefield and Kirklees health scrutiny committee last week rejected plans to centralise Mid Yorkshire Hospitals Trust’s A&E and maternity services in Wakefield.

Councillors said they were not convinced the plans, were in patients’ best interests.

Save Dewsbury Hospital and other campaigners have welcomed the panel’s decision to refer the plans to Secretary of State Jeremy Hunt.

Dathan Tedesco, a founding member of the group, said: “We’re happy it’s happened. It adds some real weight behind the 30,000- plus signatures on the petition we’ve got.

“The councillors put forward very legitimate concerns, which are the same things all the hospital campaigners have been raising.”

But Mr Reevell (Con) said: “My view is as it has always been - we’ve got clinicians, consultants, people who actually treat my constituents telling me that they can treat them better if they reorganised x, y and z.

“We’ve got a group of local councillors who insist that they know better. I prefer the advice of the doctors to the people who are trying to score political points.”

But Mr Tedesco accused Mr Reevell of pursuing an ‘ideological agenda of cuts’ instead of listening to his constituents.

Mr Tedesco said: “He’s saying he’s listened to clinicians, but our group has a number of Freedom of Information responses which show he’s never sat down with North Kirklees Clinical Commissioning Group.”

Mr Reevell said he chose to speak to hospital staff who worked in the departments affected by the proposals.