WORCESTER is favoured over Kidderminster when it comes to healthcare, according to a health campaigner.

Patients in Kidderminster get a raw deal compared with patients in Worcester, says Coun Howard Eeles, a Wyre Forest district councillor.

Coun Eeles launched an attack on what he sees as a lack of fairness within Worcestershire’s healthcare system when he addressed the board of Worcestershire Primary Care Trust at a meeting in Redditch Town Hall.

He complained about a lack of palliative care beds in Wyre Forest when Worcester Royal had increased theirs by five beds, the lack of a midwife-led birth unit at Kidderminster and raised concerns about the development of two surgeries on the Kidderminster Hospital site which he feels will make the parking problems worse and preclude further development.

He also mentioned the GP-led health centre where Worcester was chosen over other locations in the county and how Wyre Forest patients had to travel to Worcester for medical emergencies.

He said: “What I’m asking is that greater attention be given to Wyre Forest by the PCT.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg – there’s a steady whittling away of medical services to Worcester.

“It’s not all bad news – there are some good services, for example the nurse-led diabetic unit at Kidderminster and the orthopaedic service.

“But at a recent meeting there was a strong undercurrent of anger about the way we have been neglected in our services.

“I have to convey the general feeling of disillusionment.”

Simon Hairsnape, director of delivery at the PCT, said services at hospitals across the county had developed as a result of ad hoc decisions over many years and said the PCT was committed to a review into providing more “joined up services” in Worcestershire.

But he said the review had to be “comprehensive”, taking into account the situation in other parts of Worcestershire as well as Wyre Forest.