Calderdale NHS 38 Degrees group had a great morning in sunny Brighouse. With 10 members on their information stall, they talked to the public, gave out leaflets and added
signatures to a petition to save Calderdale and Huddersfield A&E departments. Just short of 300 people signed the petition at the stall.
Rosemary Hedges, the Calderdale NHS 38 Degrees Secretary, said,
“Although most people we spoke to knew about the closure threat and were, to a person, against it, many did not realise the other changes going hand in hand with it, and were horrified when it was explained to them. A number of people said they had read
in the Courier and Echo that we were going to be there
and had wanted to sign the petition.”
Other NHS and social care proposed changes
On top of the proposed downgrade of Calderdale A&E to a Minor Injuries Unit – without any guarantee of 24 hour cover, other proposed NHS and social care changes in Calderdale and Greater Huddersfield include:
- centralising A&E and acute services at HRI
- cutting 100 hospital beds across both sites
- turning Calderdale Royal Hospital into an 86 bed planned care hospital, with a midwife-delivery maternity unit and a minor injuries unit
- making up for the loss of costly hospital A&E admissions, beds and treatments by unclear, cost-saving proposals for “integrated health and social care in the community” for patients at home, or near home in local “hubs”
These proposals are known as the Right Care Right Place Right Time proposals and you can read more about them here.
Calderdale Council is so worried by these proposals that it recently voted unanimously to call on Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust and its partners Locala and South West Yorkshire Foundation Partnership Trust to withdraw their Strategic Outline Case for the proposed NHS and social care changes and provide evidence to a People’s Commission of Inquiry.
All in all, Calderdale NHS 38 Degrees have gathered over 500 signatures to save our A&E
departments.
Petitions to be gathered up at May 3rd Halifax procession to save our hospitals
The plan is for all A&E petitions to be gathered up at the Halifax procession on Saturday May 3rd, and taken to the Houses of Parliament on May 7th. Campaigners to save our A&Es will show the petitions to Health Department Officials, and also present them at the House of Lords in an attempt to stop the House of Lords from voting through Clause 119 of the Care Bill.
The aim is for Linda Riordan MP to meet a Government Minister and Labour Health spokesperson so campaigners can show them the petitions, and then bring the petitions back and use them again when needed.
These are three online petitions about Calderdale and Huddersfield hospitals, which you
might like to sign if you haven’t already:
Save Our Accident and Emergency
Stop Clause 119 of the Care Bill
Clause 119, if it becomes law, will allow the Secretary of State to order the closure of
hospitals or departments without any proper consultation. If it passes, it could be
curtains for Calderdale Royal Hospital, if the Secretary of State decides to push through proposals to close the A&E department and all the vital support sections that back up A&E.
It could also be curtains for for Huddersfield Royal Infimary A&E Department, if the Secretary of State decided to push through option 4 in the Strategic Outline Case. This is to close both A&E Departments in Calderdale and Greater Huddersfield and take Calderdale and Hudddersfield emergency patients to a specialised A&E in Leeds.
I firmly believe that all our petitions should go to the CCGs as they are the initial decision makers.