A JUDGE will decide on Monday whether a legal challenge against a decision to close stroke units at Barnsley and Rotherham hospitals can proceed or not.
A judge has already refused permission once, but the decision will be appealed at the hearing in Leeds on Monday.
The legal challenge has been launched by a Barnsley resident against health chiefs who are closing Barnsley Hospital’s emergency stroke services.
The decision to close the hyper acute stroke unit, which provides the first 72 hours of critical care after a stroke, was made in November by the Joint Committee of Clinical Commissioning Groups (JCCCG) following a review and consultation.
The unit at Rotherham will also close, and anyone who suffers a stroke will be taken to Pinderfields, Doncaster, Sheffield or Chesterfield for the first 72 hours of care. After that time, if well enough, they will be brought back to Barnsley for the remainder of their care.
But the unnamed resident, along with Save Our NHS campaign groups in Barnsley and Rotherham, is concerned the views of local people in the two towns were not taken into account, and that the people were not treated fairly.
The specialist legal team at law firm Irwin Mitchell issued judicial review proceedings challenging the decision to close the stroke units. A judicial review is a type of court proceeding in which a judge reviews the lawfulness of a decision or action made by a public body.
In other words, judicial reviews are a challenge to the way in which a decision has been made, rather than the rights and wrongs of the conclusion reached.
Rebecca Chapman, a solicitor at Irwin Mitchell, said: “There is a hearing on Monday at Leeds Combined Court Centre.
“We made the application to challenge the joint CCG decision to close hyper acute stroke units at Barnsley and Rotherham Hospitals.
“But the judge decided we couldn’t continue and refused permission.
“This hearing on Monday is to appeal that decision. We are asking for permission to proceed.
“If we get permission to proceed, there will be another hearing.”
