HORRIFIED Wyre Forest MP Dr Richard Taylor says he is "absolutely devastated" that hi-tech equipment worth thousands of pounds has been taken out of Kidderminster Hospital.

After finding out yesterday that a video link between Kidderminster nurses and their colleagues in Worcester and Redditch had been removed, he insisted the equipment be reinstalled immediately.

The revelation came after the Shuttle/Times & News took up the case of Bewdley factory worker Alister Drapier.

He was taken to Worcestershire Royal Hospital after crushing one of his fingers in an accident at work in Stourport, but was sent to Selly Oak Hospital for treatment after an X-ray.

Dr Taylor argued such wasted trips could be avoided if telemedicine was used to assess such patients at Kidderminster Hospital's minor injuries unit.

This would involve sending medical images to experts at Worcester or Redditch who would decide where they should be treated.

He also called for a change in ambulance and hospital protocols and the appointment of an MIU doctor.

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust chief executive John Rostill responded by saying a review was to be carried out into the co-ordination of ambulance and hospital services.

Dr Taylor's joy at this breakthrough soon turned to anger, however, when he was told by the Shuttle/Times & News that the video facility had been removed and only an x-ray link remained between the three hospitals.

He said: "If we had been told (when the video link was taken out) we would have kicked up a tremendous stink because it was the one thing that was given to us when Kidderminster lost its A&E.

"That was our video link for our people and it has got to be put back in," he said, pointing out a review could not be carried out into the protocols unless the video link was reinstated.

He said he understood that when the video system was in place Kidderminster staff had experienced difficulty in making contact with colleagues in other hospitals

He added: "The fact it wasn't being used was, as far I'm concerned, because the staff couldn't get through to the front end when they needed to.

"And if they were able to deal with all the patients without using it then they need a broader range of patients, because it was put in with the specific aim of widening the range of patients seen."

Dr Taylor made his comments after trust spokesman Richard Haynes confirmed to the Shuttle/Times & News that the video link was taken out last year "because it wasn't being used".

Mr Haynes said: "That was with the agreement of all clinical staff involved at all the different sites including A&E staff in Worcester, Redditch and Kidderminster."

He added there was no doubt the remaining telemedicine equipment was still saving unnecessary journeys from Kidderminster to Worcester with nurses being able to call on expert help to decide on treatments.

On the protocols review, Mr Rostill said: "I've spoken to the chief executive of Hereford and Worcester Ambulance Trust, Russell Hamilton, and we have both agreed it is appropriate to review the existing protocols, which is something I have already discussed with Richard Taylor.

"There is a medical adviser at the ambulance trust and we are going to enlist his help in the review - I think there is a need for us to make sure that the protocols we introduced some time ago are being followed - and it is about time they were reviewed."

He added he would meet with Dr Taylor in the "not too distant future" to discuss the review.

"Richard Taylor is saying there needs to be closer co-ordination between the acute trust and ambulance trust and on that we are agreed," he said.

Fifty-nine-year-old Mr Drapier, who returned to Selly Oak Hospital for an operation to remove the tip of his injured finger two days after his accident, said: "I spent a couple of hours travelling from Stourport to Worcester and Worcester to Selly Oak and it seems a lot wasted time and bother."

Alan Ford, control room locality manager for Hereford and Worcester Ambulance Trust added paramedics had assessed Mr Drapier at the scene and used their clinical judgement to decide to take him to Worcester because they wanted him to see a doctor immediately.