A HEATED debate involving more than 60 people dissected the health service in Worcestershire.

BBC Hereford and Worcester's Your Health, Your Future event was organised in conjunction with the Worcester News and our sister titles the Kidderminster Shuttle and the Redditch Advertiser.

It saw health chiefs and members of the public gather at Worcester University, Kidderminster College and New College in Redditch, for the chance to have their say.

And there were so many questions the live broadcast had to be extended by 30 minutes to two-and-a-half hours.

Hot topics included axing 720 jobs at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust in order to help plug spiralling debts, and the huge cost of the Private Finance Initiative contract which enabled the Worcestershire Royal Hosp-ital to be built.

There were also genuine concerns about patient care in Worcestershire where the Primary Care Trusts are having to axe services - such as sexual health clinics, home visits for the elderly and the proposed closing of the Macmillan Cancer Unit at

the Evesham Community Hospital - to make up £13m that has been top-sliced to pay off national debt.

Government health minister Andy Burnham provoked disbelief on the floor when he defended the NHS, saying that there is strong evidence that the service was the best it had ever been in terms of patient experience.

One angry patient, Craig Walsh, said after the debate: "He has obviously never been a patient himself."

John Rostill, chief executive of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, agreed with Mr Burnham saying that waiting times across the county's three sites were at their lowest ever.

But he admitted that hitting targets had created a huge financial challenge which now had to be eradicated at the cost of jobs and

service changes.

Eamonn Holmes, the acting chief executive of Wyre Forest Primary Care Trust and representing all the PCTs in Worcestershire, said that the Government needed to look at how shire counties were funded.

He believes Worcestershire is being short-changed.

There was no conclusion to the radio programme - which is the very nature of debate - but it gave a lot of people the chance to vent their feelings.

And there were even some who had positive things to say about their experiences in the counties health system.

Steve Brown, who has recently received treatment for prostate cancer, said he was delighted at the level of care and service he had received.

But he had some advice forfellow patients.

"Don't take anything on trust," he said.

"Check that everything you are being told will be done is getting done - from appointments made and asking to see letters that are sent concerning your care.

"Take charge of your health yourself."