THE minister poured scorn on Shadow Health Secretary Liam Fox's pledge to have an independent review into the county health shake-up.

She said: "The proposals and changes taking place have been consulted on and been looked into in great detail.

"We are able to provide new investment here because we are providing new investment across the board in the NHS.

"The Conservatives do not have the additional investment to put into the NHS because they do not have the source of funding for new facilities - not simply for Kidderminster but across the country."

David Lock was equally dismissive.

He said: "The last thing Worcestershire health needs now is more uncertainty. We got a commitment for a multi-million pound investment on this site for new services, we got the consent of the consultants and GPs for the way forward.

"The last thing we need is another few years of stalemate, a cuts agenda being driven by a party that does not want to invest in local services.

"We got the consensus. Now that we've got the money, for goodness sake let's get on with it."