The MP representing Wyre Forest in Worcestershire - where services were axed from Kidderminster Hospital - has warned history must not be allowed to repeat itself in Redditch.

Richard Taylor (Ind Wyre Forest) said: "There is a huge, huge problem."

He was leading a Commons debate on health services in the county, as a campaign against proposed cuts at the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch heated up.

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Dr Taylor won his seat in 2001 on a "health concern" platform, defeating a sitting Labour MP following protests against the downgrading of Kidderminster Hospital.

Now the same health trust which runs Kidderminster, Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, has announced plans to cut services at the Alexandra.

Dr Taylor said: "We know that for the first time in its history the NHS as a whole is not in financial balance this year."

As a result, health trusts had been told to balance their books.

Independent consultants had reviewed operations at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust and discovered there was scope for savings, he said. "They found the trust is a high-cost provider compared to its peers."

In theory, savings could be used by ensuring patients were discharged from hospital more quickly instead of staying in hospital longer than needed.

However, another way of saving money identified by the trust was by cutting services at Redditch. "Reduction or loss of these services is going to be violently opposed by everybody," he said. The review of health services across Worcestershire must be " realistic and fair".