Health bosses have pleaded with two MPs to help clear up “misunderstandings” about the future of an A&E department. They have sent an open letter to Paula Sherriff and Tracy Brabin asking them to make it clear that there is no plan to close Dewsbury’s emergency department. Both MPs have raised concerns over patient safety at the hospital after a surge in winter A&E attendances caused delays in A&E for patients at Mid Yorkshire Hospitals Trust. The trust, which also runs Pinderfields and Pontefract hospitals, faced unprecedented demand and only managed to see 77.7 per cent of A&E patients within four hours – against a target of 95 per cent – latest figures showed.
It was also at the second highest patient safety alert level amid a winter crisis at hospitals around the country. Mid Yorkshire is planning to centralise A&E care for the most seriously ill patients at Pinderfields hospital in Wakefield from this spring, a move MPs have described as a “downgrade” of Dewsbury hospital.
Full story in Dewsbury Advertiser, 24 January 2017