A "NATIONAL scandal" has been blamed for the case of a Chaddesley Corbett man whose daughter was forced to take out a £15,000 loan to pay for a life-saving operation.

Wyre Forest MP Dr Richard Taylor said a lack of funding for the NHS meant more than 160 patients from across Worcestershire were having to wait months for urgent surgery.

Gail Latham had to borrow £15,000 to pay for a private heart bypass for her 66-year-old father George after he was placed on a six to nine-month waiting list by Worcestershire Health Authority, despite being on the critical list.

Mr Latham had his operation in Birmingham on Saturday and has vowed to sell his house next year to pay his daughter back.

But Dr Taylor said the health authority was not to blame for the situation and pointed at a national lack of funding which meant urgent cases were becoming emergencies, and people were dying waiting for operations.

And he said half the £13.7 million of Government money that was being "wasted on lavish and arguably unnecessary restructuring" of Kidderminster Hospital's new block could be used to buy 500 cardiac operations in private hospitals.

"This isn't the fault of the Worcestershire Health Authority. Indeed, the authority pays for some emergency operations to be conducted in private hospitals," Dr Taylor added.

"It shows the national scandal of health service funding."

The health authority has a contract with Birmingham's University Hospital for cardiac surgery, whose doctors makes decisions about the urgency of admission for the procedure for each patient, a spokeswoman said.