Councillors fear hospital services for people living in the Spen Valley could be threatened by plans for a new hospital in Wakefield.

Kirklees Council is to set up a scrutiny commission this week amid fears Dewsbury District Hospital could lose its casualty department if services in Wakefield are boosted.

An all-party motion - due to be passed at tomorrow's full council meeting - claims Wakefield Health Authority has failed to effectively consult with Kirklees or Calderdale and Kirklees Health Authority.

And the Council is to write to the regional director of the NHS demanding no decision is made without proper consultation.

Kirklees deputy leader David Sheard (Lab, Heckmondwike) said: "A new hospital in Wakefield would have a massive impact on people in the Spen Valley because it would affect the viability of Dewsbury District Hospital.

"We will fight any threat from Wakefield. We have not had as much input as we would like and we need to ensure our views are heard."

A decision about the future of hospital services in the Wakefield district will be made in February or March on completion of a three-month public consultation exercise.

Wakefield Health Authority believes the area's existing two hospitals, Pinderfields in Wakefield and Pontefract General Infirmary, have too few patients to both stay open.

Options include building a new general hospital at Pinderfields or Normanton, or building an acute specialist centre, to include intensive care, paediatric care, maternity services and most surgery, in one of the two towns.

Both options would mean the closure of the area's existing hospitals.

Councillors in Kirklees are concerned that a new centre in Wakefield would draw patients from Ossett and Horbury who are currently treated at Dewsbury.

Wakefield Health Authority's head of communications Anne Gibson said: "No decision has been made yet and there is no firm recommendation for any of the options.

"Kirklees Council and Calderdale and Kirklees Health Authority have been consulted and we are also talking to health authorities in Leeds and North Yorkshire."

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