Mid Yorkshire Hospital Trust and Pontefract Hospital

Many people in the five towns have been exasperated about the situation with Mid Yorkshire Hospital Trust. The trust, at the behest of our local MPs, drove through a PFI which resulted in a significant building programme a whole parcel of debt and a series of re organisations with services being centralised around Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield. The hospitals at Pontefract and Dewsbury have faced service deletions and restructuring. In the latest set of proposals some services will return to Pontefract and some be retained in Dewsbury. In all of this process getting results has just become more difficult. We regularly see photoshoots outside one hospital or another with our MPs looking glum and we get a service which falls short when compared with the exemplars.

The latest shocker is the discovery of a £13 million pound bill for 6 months temporary staff cover...You could not make it up.

Now there will be those reading this who will say that its the government that's at fault and in a way they are right with the previous Labour Government going for a spend at all costs without ensuring that Mid Yorks Hospital Trust spent wisely. The NHS was not safe in their hands as the Stafford Hospital fiasco proved.

The Mid Yorks situation will end up in front of the Health Minister at some point. Here's hoping he will do more for this district than previous Labour politicians or the Hospital Trust.