THE General Hospital which treats Ilkley patients is facing the threat of closure, according to the town's Member of Parliament.

Budget deficits and planned service delivery changes - including privatisation - could lead to the closure of Airedale General Hospital and Ilkley patients having to travel to Leeds or Bradford, says Ann Cryer. Health bosses have denied the claim.

The fears are being fuelled by what Mrs Cryer calls the 'takeover' of the health care commissioning body, the Airedale Primary Care Trust (PCT) by Bradford North PCT.

Planned Government changes will see those two bodies taken over by a new districtwide PCT. Mrs Cryer - no stranger to opposing the Government on matters of principle - said she would fight the changes because they would hurt patient interests.

She said: "Without the takeover even being complete, the future of the area served by Airedale PCT is already playing second fiddle.

"Indeed, the future of Airedale General Hospital itself is in jeopardy. Current thinking suggests that a general hospital is simply not viable and that the future for Airedale is as a diagnostic centre - still free at the point of delivery but provided by a private company - with the bulk of services being offered at Leeds and Bradford."

Mrs Cryer said that the logical extension of the argument would mean the removal of accident and emergency services from Airedale, casting doubt on its future existence.

She said that health service managers cited budget deficits as the drivers of change but she called for the financial problems to be put in perspective.

She added: "I am not prepared to sit back and allow strategies based on short-term financial savings to be bulldozed through. I simply cannot accept that a cumbersome districtwide authority determined to run down services in Airedale in favour of Leeds and Bradford, goes any way at all to serving the people of Ilkley."

Mrs Cryer has written to the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Health with her concerns and she will be meeting union leaders representing hospital workers. She has also asked constituents to write to her showing support for her fight.

Ian Rutter, Chief Executive of Airedale and North Bradford PCTs, said that the aim of changes introduced by the Government was to improve health care and benefit patients.

He said: "The Yorkshire Strategic Health Authority has recently drawn up a plan which is designed to make sure that the region is in the best position to embrace these changes.

"There has been no takeover of Airedale PCT. It continues to operate as a separate organisation but is working in partnership with North Bradford PCT. There is absolutely no threat to the future of Airedale Hospital - we believe it has a bright future ahead.

"We will be working closely with the hospital and GP practices to develop a more extensive range of health services in both the Wharfedale area and Keighley - closer to where people live, which will best meet their needs."

Adam Cairns, Chief Executive of Airedale NHS Trust, said: "The changes announced by the Department of Health have been welcomed by Airedale Trust. We are firmly committed to working together with our PCT colleagues and we have an emerging and shared view about the future.

"We believe that the future for Airedale Hospital will be based on closer working relationships with GP's and others in primary care, with services being redesigned so that they meet patients' needs more closely.

"We are looking forward to rising to the challenge of improving our services, and building a future for the hospital."