"TRUST NEEDS TO BUILD TRUST" says Greg Mulholland

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 16th Feb 2005

Cllr Greg Mulholland, Lib Dem Parliamentary Spokesperson for Leeds North West has welcomed a reply to his letter to Neil McKay, Chief Executive of The Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust about the future of Wharfedale Hospital.

Cllr Mulholland wrote to Mr McKay after being contacted by worried staff and patients who felt they were being kept in the dark over plans for the multi-million pound hospital.

The reply assures that the surgical ward would continue despite the fact that as Mr McKay admits "The new surgical facilities at Wharfedale are quite definitely under-used". Mr McKay went on to highlight the expansion of day surgery but then said that surgery at the hospital would continue and formed an important part of the hospital's future.

Cllr Mulholland welcomed the news, "Clearly there has been much speculation about the future of surgery at Wharfedale Hospital and it will come as a huge relief to staff and the public that this has now been publicly cleared up".

Cllr Mulholland however remains critical of what he describes as a "failure of communication" that led to such serious concerns being raised by staff members.

"Clearly something is very wrong when staff have no idea of their own future of the futures of their wards and the Trust should hold up its hands and admit it has handled this badly".

Mr McKay said that the Trust had now agreed "undertake a significant communications exercise beginning soon to explain the purpose of the hospital and our plans for it."

Cllr Mulholland welcomed this but added "The recent speculation and worry could have been avoided if the Trust had better communicated with staff and public and I hope it learns the lesson from this".

The Trust has also been roundly criticised by the way it has not informed the wider public in Leeds about the ongoing hospital funding crisis including a public attack from Leeds City Council leaders who themselves were left to find out about cancelled operations via the press.

Plus there are still ongoing concerns over the pathology and endocinology clinics and it seems that these functions will be moved from Wharfedale to other sites.

"The message to the Trust is clear: Be open and honest about what is going on with our hospitals, that is its duty to the people of Leeds and I will continue to push them to ensure that this happens."

Cllr Mulholland is currently in the middle of "the Leeds North West Health Inquiry" which involves writing to everyone in Leeds North West so they can air their views on this crucial issue.