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

CAMPAIGNERS staged a 20 mile march through West Yorkshire to protest against proposals to close an accident and emergency unit in Halifax.
.Josh Fenton-Glynn walk towards Ainley Top, between Todmorden Walk in Centre and Huddersfield Royal Infirmary..Josh Fenton-Glynn walk towards Ainley Top, between Todmorden Walk in Centre and Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.
.Josh Fenton-Glynn walk towards Ainley Top, between Todmorden Walk in Centre and Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.

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.”

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

.Josh Fenton-Glynn walk towards Ainley Top, between Todmorden Walk in Centre and Huddersfield Royal Infirmary..Josh Fenton-Glynn walk towards Ainley Top, between Todmorden Walk in Centre and Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.
.Josh Fenton-Glynn walk towards Ainley Top, between Todmorden Walk in Centre and Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.

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.