Cameron blunders on A&E closures

David Cameron promised a bare-knuckle fight with Labour yesterday over reform in the NHS.

But instead, he has blundered into a row with the very hospitals he claimed were at risk of losing their A&E departments.

One of his own MPs, Henry Bellingham, MP for Norfolk North West, has said his party had got its facts wrong about the Queen Elizabeth hospital in King's Lynn.

That has been followed by a slew of primary care trusts, named by the Tories, denying their services are at risk.

Hospitals repond

Of the 29 hospitals on the Conservatives list, 12 have hit back at claims of closure.

A spokesman for Trafford Healthcare NHS Trust said he was 'bemused and surprised' that Altrincham Hospital was included. The Conservatives have admitted this was a mistake.

Horton Hospital in Oxfordshire also told Channel 4 News that they were acutally planning more investment in their A&E, not less, and that the 'list had been corrected'.

South Warwickshire NHS Trust said they were actually 'maintaining and extending' services while Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust said the local Maternity Hospital was 'here to stay'.

Even Huddersfield Royal Infirmary, the hospital David Cameron visited today said it would 'totally refute' the claims. Seven other trusts also denied the Conservatives claims.

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