THE latest loss of clinics from Ilkley's Coronation Hospital is not an attempt to 'reduce services by stealth', a health trust boss has said.

Airedale NHS Trust chief executive, Robert Allen, gave this assurance when he met Ilkley MP Ann Cryer on Friday, in a discussion called over the trust's decision to axe a Leeds-based consultant's gynaecology clinics at the Springs Lane hospital.

The cut came just two months after the trust ended another regular gynaecology and obstetrics clinic at the Coronation Hospital.

Ilkley campaigners were particularly concerned that the ending of the clinics represented a reduction of services by stealth - something that Health Minister Jacqui Smith assured them would not happen when they met in Westminster.

Now Mr Allen has told Mrs Cryer that the latest reduction is not an attempt to cut services by stealth. He told her only a small number of people were seeing the consultant at his Ilkley clinics, and those patients were referred to Leeds, not Airedale General Hospital, for treatment. The result was, he explained, that NHS cash for the service went to Leeds and not Airedale.

Mrs Cryer has pledged to vigorously oppose any reduction in services by stealth, and said she would take the matter to the Health Minister if this was happening.

She said: "I am committed to ensuring that first class services remain in Ilkley. The consultation last year confirmed the wishes of the people of Ilkley and their needs must be met.

"If there is any sniff of any reduction in services by stealth, I will - as I did in the past - investigate the matter properly, oppose it vigorously and, if need be, refer the matter to a Minister at the Department of Health."

She said both the Airedale NHS Trust and Airedale PCT - the hospital's owner - have reassured her.

Ilkley-based campaigners still plan to meet up and discuss developments. The leader of the campaign group, Councillor Mike Gibbons, said he wanted to get some of the key campaigners together after hearing more services were being lost from the Coronation Hospital.

Councillor Gibbons said he would also like to meet with Mrs Cryer over the issue. Councillor Gibbons and Mrs Cryer were among those who met Jacqui Smith and presented her with a copy of the petition to save the Coronation Hospital.

Ilkley campaigners feared that Airedale NHS Trust was not as committed to the re-provision of the Springs Lane hospital as hospital owner Airedale Primary Care Trust (PCT) which is working towards creating a new hospital building linked to the Springs Medical Centre.

PCT chairman Liz Wolstenholme has written to Mrs Cryer explaining why the PCT felt it could no longer support the continuation of the gynaecology clinic.