THE garden of Wyre Forest MP, Dr Richard Taylor, hosted the fourth Health Concern Party Conference, which heard these were "exciting times" for the district.

A celebration of achievements so far - particularly the Government's perceived U-turn in now advising health authorities planning change to "keep the NHS local" - dominated the first part of the annual meeting on Sunday.

This was followed by a proclamation of challenges for the future, which ultimately revolved around maintaining the pressure in the battle for more services in Kidderminster Hospital after its downgrading in 2000.

Specific goals include maximising services for elective surgery at Kidderminster, as well as facilities for in-patients and the reception, assessment and treatment of emergency patients from Wyre Forest and parts of South Shropshire and South Staffordshire.

They were expressed using examples from the document, Keeping the NHS Local, A New Direction of Travel, which the Government published in February last year, and the publication this July of responses and conclusions.

New Hexham Hospital, which is 16 miles from Newcastle and features in the documents, was referred to as the "blueprint" for the party's next goal.

Speaking after the outdoor meeting, Dr Taylor, who is the only independent MP in the country after being elected on a "health concern" ticket, said: "The most important achievement is the fact the Government has produced this follow-up document on keeping the NHS local.

"We believe it is because of the stand we made here that the Government has completely changed direction as far as smaller hospitals go."

He added: "One of the quotes is patients can be cared for safely in small hospitals without surgeons on site to carry out emergency operations - whereas we lost virtually everything because it was felt if you didn't have all emergency surgery you couldn't keep admissions.

"So, in the future, other things are going to change and more and more is probably going to be possible at units like ours."

"Local" achievements included significant elective surgery returning to Kidderminster and the Government's health tsar for Emergency Access, Professor Sir George Alberti's, forthcoming visit to Kidderminster in November to explore ways of improving "local" services for emergency patients.

Dr Taylor said it was "immensely important" that health bosses agreed patients were leaving the area unnecessarily.

It was claimed that no other similar district hospital had been downgraded as severely as Kidderminster since the 2001 election.