KIDDERMINSTER Hospital must play a larger role to alleviate pressure on the other county sites, says former Wyre Forest MP Richard Taylor.

The new chief of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust has admitted demand is “exceptionally high” after patients raised concerns about queuing ambulances, heaving corridors and a packed A&E at Worcestershire Royal last week.

Dr Richard Taylor, who was MP for Wyre Forest from 2001 to 2010 said: "It is utterly ridiculous that hospital services at Worcester Royal Infirmary are overloaded while facilities at Kidderminster Hospital are vacant or underused.

“If only we had a doctor for minor injuries at Kidderminster, less people would have to go to Worcester which is a huge waste of time.”

At a meeting with trust chief Matthew Hopkins on Monday (January 21), Dr Taylor asked when a doctor would be made available at Kidderminster's Minor Injuries Unit, and suggested widening services to offer elective surgery in order to reduce the load at Worcestershire's other hospitals.

Speaking after the meeting, Dr Taylor said the new chief executive had "all the right ideas", having set out priorities including quality of care, the use of resource, organisation for success and patient safety, adding: "We will judge the situation in time."

Photographs posted on social media of queueing ambulances outside Worcestershire Royal last Tuesday (January 15) prompted calls from residents for Kidderminster's A&E department to be reopened.

Stourport resident Sami Jackson, who shared the photograph after waiting nearly six hours in A&E with her mother, said: "I felt sorry for anyone who had to use an ambulance that night, I had never seen so many in my life.

"It was clear that people were in the ambulances and they were on both sides of the road - nose to tail.

Sami added: "Kidderminster Hospital could be utilised for more if it's equipped to take the pressure off with the correct people, but the staff across the hospitals are doing a marvellous job."

Redditch MP Rachel Mclean recently wrote to the new minister for health and social care Stephen Hammond about the “unacceptable” conditions at Worcestershire’s hospitals.

She said 28 per cent of the 4,339 ambulances which arrived at hospitals in Kidderminster, Worcester and Redditch in December were stuck outside for more than half an hour and described the issue as "a matter of urgency."

Wyre Forest MP Mark Garnier said: "Queuing ambulances are an indicator that the system is not working properly and it absolutely has to be resolved."

He added that he is pushing for more money to be invested into Kidderminster Hospital's infrastructure, but said the trust needs "solid and long term management".

A spokesperson for Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said: "As part of the development of our five year strategy this year, we will be looking closely at our services and their configuration across our hospital sites to meet demand now and into the future.”