LETTER: Government continues to ignore our area

MPs Paula Sherriff and Tracy Brabin have fought vehemently in the House of Commons to bring the plight of medical services within our region to the attention of the Health Secretary.

Unfortunately, and as always, their concerns were received with utter contempt.

Both the Health secretary and indeed the Prime Minister answered by saying “local decisions are in the hands of the Clinical Commissioning Group.”

Yes, but when Government control a massively depleated budget the “local” CCG have little option but to ration valuable services.

We continue to blame our CCG’s and indeed our council for the unprecedented cuts to valuable services.

Kirklees Council have to save £140million by 2020.

£106million has been shaved off the budget to date and a further £67million has to be saved.

However, back to the ‘health’ of our region.

When you read about the Mid-Yorkshire Trust spending £16million on consultancy fees, more than nine other major hospitals combined, to save £37million, it beggars belief.

The Government continue to be oblivious, and to put it bluntly “fiddle while Rome burns” their failure to keep up with patient demand, in true funding terms, has resulted in unacceptable and life threatening decisions being made.

The ‘New’ Pinderfields Hospital has over 500 fewer beds than the previous hospital.

Dewsbury has lost its children’s ward and 34 out of 40 maternity beds have been transferred to Pinderfields.

This leaves six beds where 56 per cent of Dewsbury births are classed as ‘high risk’.

Even now, patients are still being brought to Dewsbury due to overwhelming pressures.

This state of chaos continues while the MYT’s plan is still in place to massively reduce services, Acute and A&E for the Dewsbury facility.

As long as the Westminster elite continue to remain at arms length of a problem of their making, our MPs will continue to fight a difficult battle.

John Sheen, Moor Park Lane, Dewsbury