Video: Campaigners march 20 miles to save A&E unit

Josh Fenton-Glynn, Labour parliamentary candidate for Calder Valley, led the walk from Todmorden to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary. He said the route highlighted the distances patients would have to travel for treatment under the new proposals.

He said: “The idea of making people travel from the outer reaches of the Calder Valley to Huddersfield – possibly during rush hour – when they are hurt or stressed fills me with dread.”

NHS bosses are proposing the closure of Calderdale Royal Hospital’s A&E department as the “preferred option” in a “strategic review”.

They say Huddersfield Royal Infirmary would provide 24 hour A&E while Calderdale would be left as a centre for “planned” care, losing its A&E unit.

The options will now go through a “public engagement process”, with managers saying a decision had yet to be made.