ON Monday, August 7, while Michael Foster MP was yet again stating for the nation on Radio 4 his opposition to fox hunting, the far more important news of longer waiting lists for Worcester Hospital were being printed for the front page of the Evening News.

This was just another addition to the catalogue of disasters that has befallen the Health Service in Worcester.

The Government is now sending in a hit squad to discover why waiting lists are getting longer for patients in and around the City.

The Evening News has almost daily informed us of people waiting for hours and hours for the most basic of attention.

Consultants and doctors have warned us all of their grave concerns for the future of the NHS in the county if the proposed changes involving Kidderminster Hospital go ahead unchecked.

This long list of problems coupled with the fact that staff are leaving the NHS in Worcestershire at an alarming rate is testament to all that we must have some action now from Government MPs in Worcestershire. His bid to ban hunting has undoubtedly made Michael Foster one of the mot famous backbench MPs of this Parliament, but it is now imperative that he drops the hunting issue, at least until it is debated again in the Commons this autumn and concentrate much more of his efforts on rectifying the problems of the Health Service locally before it is too late.

JOHN WOOD,

Worcester