YP Letters: Huddersfield roads are not fit for distant A&E units

From: Chris Barber, Honley.
There is a growing outcry over plans to downgrade A&E cover at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.There is a growing outcry over plans to downgrade A&E cover at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.
There is a growing outcry over plans to downgrade A&E cover at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.

HOW can it be that Huddersfield, one of the largest towns in England, can lose its A&E? Many residents I know feel badly let down by the hospital boards – firstly, as this is such a major decision, why have they not sent out a fully explanatory leaflet to residents? Very poor management of what is a major issue – riding rough shod over the population comes to mind.

It is difficult to be analytical as full information is not easy to find. We know there are budget shortfalls but surely A&E should be sacrosanct – maybe stiffer rules need to be brought in about who gets past A&E reception?

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A trip from my home to A&E will now be at least doubled – 25 minutes will be increased to 50 and in rush hour with the single line bottleneck at the end of the Halifax dual carriageway – this could increase about 70 minutes.

I don’t suppose the hospital board / highways have worked out an emergency access route or alterations that can avoid this.

I’m all for cost effectiveness within the NHS but this does not make sense as it will cost lives due to the inevitable further traffic delays. I believe over 20 per cent of the population of Huddersfield have complained in a petition being sent off to Parliament which indicates the level of exasperation felt.

From: John Chadwick, Bishop Way, Tingley, Wakefield.

ARE you aware Leeds City Council has closed all the major roads to the Leeds General Infirmary from the south of the city? What happens to people that need to get to hospital in an emergency?

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On an evening through the night, no signs warn you that Dewsbury Road at Tingley roundabout is closed for resurfacing work. You are diverted on to the M62, then abandoned to make your own way. I came off at the first junction for the M1. The southbound exit on to the M1 is closed so you have no alternative to go north. A few miles down the motorway, the M621 is closed for road maintenance. I came off at junction four and headed for the A58 Inner Ring Road but that is also closed.

I was diverted through Leeds but no signposts have been put in position to help. Many roads in the city centre are also closed.

If you do not know the roads in Leeds, you will struggle.

Confused by global issues

From: Malcolm Smith, Bracken Park, Scarcroft.

SO now we learn that staying in the EU will give us more clout with trade deals is a “myth” and leaving poses a serious threat to our property (The Yorkshire Post, January 21).

Just more confusion added to my already confused thinking, so I agree with your columnists Tom Richmond and Andrew Vine in that we do not have enough information.

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Surely it is not beyond the realms of possibility that a respected, independent organisation be commissioned to provide a profit and loss account-type report presenting only the known values, plus a balance sheet-type report on the “maybes” .

At least I would have an idea of the known financial implications and could make a judgement on the others. After all, it is all about our money in the end and this is the least that any prudent investor would do.

From: David Collins, Scissett.

EVERYONE seems to be totally misled by the world stock markets. These are not investment houses but gambling houses. It is in the interest of the players to have wide variations in prices so that they can gamble on share movements. If they can panic an investor into selling, so much the better.

The market share price has no impact on the companies involved. As far as the gamblers are concerned, they might as well be racehorses.

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The value of a company is based on its net assets value and only coincidentally will this be the same as the share price set by market manipulators. There are major dangers in this, as the pension fund investors enter this same market to invest. I hope these managers are investing to make a return on the companies’ trading results and are not being drawn into making returns on buying and selling shares.

I believe that the general betting duty should be extended to every share transaction in which shares are bought and sold in, say, a six-month period. Currently this duty is set at 15 per cent. With modern technology, this should be possible to do.

These gamblers are of no value to the world economy and the same goes for those dealing in currencies and commodities where the aim is to make money on the transaction and not on the underlying commodity.

They give a totally false picture as to how world economic activity is doing. They also add significantly to the price of products, generally by raking in a margin with no positive input.

Shallow view

From: Patricia Booth, Doncaster.

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AS an athletics fan of more years than I care to remember, I am astounded that Peter Hyde (The Yorkshire Post, January 19) is so shallow as to be concerned of the appearance of Lord Coe.

His athletic ability and subsequent achievements, his political experience, along with his experience of athletics administration, make him suitably qualified for the position he now holds. What on earth is the relevance of sporting a beard to the job he does?

As for your opinion on his denial of knowledge of drug cheats, I suggest suitable response to that would be “innocent until proved guilty”.