EMERGENCY admissions at Wharfedale General Hospital in Otley were closed for good yesterday.

And tomorrow, the hospital's high dependency unit will also close with remaining patients either being transferred to other wards at the hospital or taken to the Leeds General Infirmary.

The closures are part of the transferral of acute medical services to Leeds.

From now on, anyone suffering from heart attacks, strokes, or other life threatening conditions will have to go to Leeds General Infirmary or to the most appropriate hospital.

The move is the first step towards the complete removal of acute medical services at the hospital by Monday, August 17, and comes after concerns over the clinical safety of patients.

The arrangements have been put in place by hospital managers the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (LTHT) and comes after the approval in principle of Leeds Health Authority.

Dr Peter Belfield, from the trust, said: "National changes in the training of junior doctors increasingly make it difficult to provide optimum levels of acute care in small hospitals. We need to take action to maintain clinical safety."

A plan has been put together to make sure the changes are carried out with the minimum disruption to patients.

Medical beds, which are being reprovided at the LGI, will be gradually closed at Wharfedale as patients are discharged and allowed to go home.

And the whole process will be finished by Monday, August 17, after which just elderly, surgical and orthopedic in-patient beds will stay at Otley.

These will remain as the in-patient beds at the new developed hospital.

To coincide with the transfer of acute medical services, there will also be changed opening hours for the minor injuries unit from August 17.

And because there is a very low demand for the unit overnight, the minor injuries will now be open from 7am to 11pm every day.

Arrangements are also in place to allow the return of patients from Wharfedale to the LGI for rehabilitation and recuperation where appropriate.

Dr Hugo Mascie-Taylor, the trust's medical officer, said: "It is important that these changes are managed in a way which allows us to maintain a safe and appropriate service for our patients during the handover period.

"We are working closely with local GPs, the ambulance service and others to ensure the process goes as smoothly as possible."

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