WYRE Forest's MP has expressed his anger at not being consulted over a reduction in out-of-hours GP services which he describes as a "big blow" to the district's health services.

No doctors are based at Kidderminster Hospital's Primary Care Centre after 11pm. Instead, there are three on call to cover the whole of Worcestershire.

Dr Richard Taylor, who only found out about the changes to the service last week, said he was "completely frustrated" and felt it was a step backwards for patients in Wyre Forest.

The out-of-hours service, which runs from 6.30pm until 8am, is run by South Worcestershire Primary Care Trust, enabling patients, who make appointments, to be seen at the centre or have an emergency home visit.

Dr Taylor said: "It makes me very cross that this has happened without me knowing about it or any other consultation.

"It goes against what local people want. No other hospital in England has lost so much. We've got elective surgery coming back, which is jolly good, but we need better emergency services."

He had hoped the centre, run by Wyre Forest PCT, could be combined with the Minor Injuries Unit, operated by Worcestershire Acute NHS Hospitals Trust, to bring back some emergency care.

The MP said: "It really is a big blow. I had hoped the doctor based at the centre could cover the Minor Injuries Unit. I was hoping that the only staff we would need to provide the 24-hour doctor cover in Kidderminster in the combined unit would have been medical cover during working hours.

"Working hours is a relatively small amount of the week. You don't have to pay doctors as much during the day. It didn't seem a huge step to do that to provide the emergency cover that we need so badly."

Janie Thomas, chairman of Wyre Forest's Patient and Public Involvement Forum, said the watchdog had been opposed to the changes - introduced at the beginning of the year - since October when they were first outlined and had been writing letters to South Worcestershire PCT to make patients' views known.

She added: "We are very disappointed that the services have been reduced and we are concerned about it.

"We know that some patients are not using the service properly as they don't realise they need to make an appointment first and that makes things worse for those who are using the service properly. We are monitoring it all the time."

Dr Tim Davies, director of public health at South Worcestershire PCT, said: "The trust's overview and scrutiny committee did not feel we should go to public consultation. We were not restricting people's access to the out-of-hours service.

"The need for a GP between 11pm and 8am is actually very low. We believe the service we are giving is meeting the needs we have."