Letter: A new door will not heal patients

I would like to point out to Simon Reevell MP (Con) that the decision of the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee was that there is “sufficient doubt that the proposals (for the reconfiguration of the hospital services) are in the best interests of the local population.”

In the light of the behaviour of Mid Yorkshire Hospital Trust alongside Wakefield CCG which presented the Scrutiny Committee with misinformation and a degree of verbal bullying, to come to any other conclusion may have given rise to an opportunity for triumphalism. This matter is too important for that. I was at two meetings.

The delay could give time for health bosses to review these proposals and draw up revisions to ensure that the health outcomes for residents of North Kirklees are put before the comfort and convenience of hand picked consultants and ‘health specialists’, (not all share Mr Eames’s view).

However, so far all they have come up with is the destruction on the Dewsbury Hospital site, of the Bronte Tower, the Staincliffe building and the Oakwell Centre for Learning and Development! This land is to be sold off for development.

Given that on 1 April 2013 when the Health and Social Care Act 2012, became law, all hospitals not in Public /Private Finance Initiative deals became the property of a shadowy Government Company called PropCo, it is difficult to envisage how such a ‘sell off’ could benefit Mid Yorkshire

Hospitals Trust, or North Kirklees CCG, as the proceeds will be claimed elsewhere. As we walk further along this path, it seems that this reconfiguration is a ‘front’ for government cuts to the health spending on services for patients, and Dr. Kelly, Mr Eames and Dr Earnshaw (Wakefield CCG) are wielding the scissors.

A new front door and some new curtains in Dewsbury Hospital will not deliver a baby or discover a broken hip in an older person who fell over.

Unless something changes, whatever Mr Reevell MP (Con) believes, according to the presentation at the Area Council Meeting in Dewsbury Town Hall, the outlook for an older person who falls, is picked up by her care worker and possibly put into her own bed with a broken hip, plus anyone else who needs quick access to a A&E, the outlook is bleak.

Christine Hyde

Scarr End Lane

Dewsbury