WYRE Forest MP, Dr Richard Taylor, has welcomed news that a North Worcestershire A and E will not suffer the same fate as Kidderminster's in 2000.

The board of the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust agreed that a possible transfer of emergency surgery and trauma care from the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch to Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester should no longer be pursued.

Dr Taylor described the closure proposal, made by management consultants, as "a non-starter", adding: "This shows the unrealism of the proposals from the consultants.

"There is no way that you could close the A&E at Redditch, just as the A&E here should not have been closed. But the extra concern from Redditch was that if the A&E at Redditch was closed, the GPs would not have used Worcester, as the journey from Redditch to Worcester is impossible.

"They are so much closer to Selly Oak - so they would have gone there. "

He went on: "I have been assured by the chief executive,(of the acute hospitals NHS trust) personally, that services at Kidderminster remain and that the treatment centre will be used more and more.

"The treatment centre is supposed to be providing a service for low-tech and medium-tech operations to take the load off the rest of the county.

"Retaining A&E at Redditch should not have any adverse effect on us in Wyre Forest. We need to continue to push for more emergency care here and the amalgamation of the minor injuries unit and the primary care centre."

The board will now formally recommend to the Service Review Project Board, due to meet on Tuesday, that emergency surgery and trauma services remain as they are at Redditch.