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Public consultation has been launched over plans for a massive new investment at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary – and work could start later this year, subject to planning permission.
It was revealed last year that Calderdale & Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust had secured almost £200 million to invest in both HRI and the Calderdale Royal Hospital in Halifax.
The plans for Huddersfield involve building a brand new Accident & Emergency unit, seven years after a threat to close the A&E first emerged, sparking one of the biggest public campaigns seen in the town for decades.
The works at HRI include essential repairs and the upgrading of wards and operating theatres.
Calderdale will see an extension of hospital buildings with an A&E, Paediatrics A&E, enhanced Intensive Care Unit and theatres built.
The new A&E at HRI will have: major and minors treatment areas; a dedicated paediatric area; and resuscitation and x-ray bays.
It will be built on the site of staff accommodation building Savile Court which will be demolished. A single storey building it will be connected to the main hospital.
The exact design of the A&E building has not yet been finalised, giving the public the opportunity to influence what it looks like.
All the details for the new proposals for both hospitals are available at www.chftfutureplans.co.uk
Members of the public across the communities of Greater Huddersfield and Calderdale are being invited to share their views on the new developments proposed in advance of planning applications being submitted to the local councils of Calderdale and Kirklees in May. The deadline to do so is Monday March 29.
The £196.5 million proposals are funded by the Department of Health and Social Care and supported by the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Healthcare Partnership and pending the planning permission decision, it is hoped the work could be starting this year at HRI and scheduled for completion in 2025.
Trust chairman Philip Lewer said: “This is very much an ongoing journey to ensure we provide the best hospital healthcare for patients and families in Huddersfield and Calderdale for now and for future generations.”
This is not about improving services in Huddersfield, it is about transferring most of them to Halifax, where 90% of the money will be spent. The A&E in Huddersfield will be downgraded with all acute and intensive care services transferred to Halifax. This picture of a shiny new building is deliberately misleading. Tragically, Huddersfield is being sold down the river to pay for the exorbitant cost of the Calderdale PFI hospital.