Campaigners threaten judicial review over proposed hospital closure

Campaigners against the closure of a Huddersfield hospital have said they will take the local NHS trust to judicial review.

Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust in August approved a business case for changes to its hospital services in Calderdale and Greater Huddersfield.

Campaigners have objected to the idea of transferring the A&E department at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary to Halifax’s Calderdale Royal Hospital.

The Huddersfield Examiner has reported that the campaign group’s lawyers have advised it has a 60%-65% chance of victory.

Calderdale and Kirklees councils’ joint health scrutiny committee in July decided to refer the proposals to health secretary Jeremy Hunt.

It said it had serious concerns about some of the consequences of reconfiguring hospital services and was not satisfied with the adequacy of the content of the consultation and felt the amended proposals presented to it were not consistent with those originally consulted on by the local clinical commissioning groups in 2016.

Yogi Amin, head of public law at Irwin Mitchell, told campaigners the legal action would not detract from the separate review arising from the councils’ actions.

“Once the group has consulted members, a full statement will be released.”

Mark Smulian