JESSE Norman is ready to fight Wye Valley NHS Trust over the “false choice” he says is being offered over the future for health and social care in the county.

The MP for Hereford and South Herefordshire is calling a public meeting to rally his cause later this month.

Last week the cash-strapped Trust confirmed plans that could either put its services into private hands or see the Trust become the junior partner of a larger, financially stable trust.  This was pitched as the only way the trust could achieve foundation status as required by government.

Today (Monday) Mr Norman said the trust was being pushed into a false choice by NHS chiefs unwilling to grasp unfair NHS funding formula and Hereford County Hospital’s “ruinous” PFI contract as the real source of the Trust’s cash flow woes 

“There must be no talk of cutting or merging services in Herefordshire until both these issues are properly addressed,” he said.

For more see this week’s Hereford Times.