HEALTH chiefs have denied claims of a plan to close Kidderminster Hospital's minor injuries unit at night.

But Wyre Forest district councillors issued an angry challenge to Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust to explain why new patients cannot access haematology - blood - services at Worcestershire Royal Hospital at a full meeting last week.

This means leukaemia patients will have to travel to either Birmingham or London for treatment.

Council leader Liz Davies said: "We have got a new hospital but already services are being reduced."

As part of its emergency motion, the council also hit out at changes to medical cover at Kidderminster Hospital's Cookley Ward - which has since reverted to the original set-up - and a claimed proposal to close the minor injuries unit, which contains expensive telemedicine technology, at night.

"Since Frank Dobson cut the first sod at the Worcestershire Royal Hospital site and assured Wyre Forest residents that their healthcare facilities would be increased, this council has repeatedly had to acknowledge, with disgust, precisely the opposite," said the motion.

Trust spokesman Richard Haynes confirmed the haematology situation but denied there are any plans to reduce access to the minor injuries unit.