Labour pledges to save under-threat Yorkshire health services

Shadow Health Secretary Jon Ashworth will set out Labour’s pledge in a speech in West Yorkshire where campaigners have been protesting at plans which will see Huddersfield lose its A&E services as they are transferred to Halifax.

Labour will promise to put a hold on the NHS’s proposals to reorganise services, known as sustainability and transformation plans (STPs), while they undergo a “full scale review”.

But it is likely to face questions over how it will fund the promise, given that the NHS has insisted the plans are vital to save millions of pounds and balancing the health service budget .

Mr Ashworth will say: “Labour will put the best interests of patients at the heart of our NHS so today I’m announcing we will halt planned closures to hospitals and other services. We will have a moratorium on the STPs.

“We have listened to the hundreds of patients and campaigners up and down the country that have been pleading with the government to hear their concerns about their local services.

“Threats of hospitals being closed, A&E services moved miles up the road, and children’s wards being shut, have caused widespread concern and confusion. What is more, these decisions have been decided behind closed doors, with no genuine involvement of local people.”

However, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt was scathing about Labour’s proposals.

He said: “This is just another nonsensical Jeremy Corbyn idea – last December his Shadow Health Secretary backed these plans and Labour’s 2015 manifesto said they would do the same thing.

“These local plans are developed by local doctors and communities, backed by the top doctors and nurses of the NHS, and will improve patient care. This is all underpinned by an extra £10 billion for the NHS, which we can only afford thanks to our strong economy."