GOVERNMENT ministers came under fire from Bromsgrove's MP Julie Kirkbride after it emerged that more than 900 operations were cancelled by the county's hospitals last year.

The Tory member said the Government should be ashamed of the 'human misery' caused by the cancellations.

Her attack came after health minister Rosie Winterton revealed that 943 operations were cancelled at the last minute by Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust in 2004/2005.

Miss Kirkbride blames the problem on the Government's focus on targets rather than clinical priorities. "Is not the minister remotely ashamed of the figures she has announced, given the human misery they represent?" she asked.

"Does she appreciate the trouble it causes the people involved, who might well have suffered a sleepless night and made extensive arrangements with friends and family to cover their time in hospital?"

In reply Ms Winterton points out that the number of cancelled operations had actually fallen from 1,073 last year.

"I would have thought Miss Kirkbride would be congratulating her local NHS staff on reducing the number from about 2.3 per cent in 2004 to 1.9 per cent now."

She acknowledged however that the figure is higher than the national average.

A spokesman for Worcestershire Acute Hospital NHS Trust said: "We do all we can to avoid cancelling any operations because we are aware of the distress and inconvenience this can cause.

"However, like any acute hospital, there are times when the need to deliver lifesaving treatment to large numbers of emergency patients does mean we have to cancel some planned operations, sometimes regrettably at very short notice. When this happens we make every effort to make sure patients affected are given a new date as soon as possible."

He added good progress was made in reducing cancellation from 2.7 per cent in 2003/4 to 2.3 per cent last year. The figure has been reduced to 1.9 per cent in the last three months.