HOSPITAL services in Worcestershire look set to join the battle for cash in a post-election health spending spree.

Conservative general election candidates from the county met health secretary Matt Hancock who told them if the Tories win the vote on December 12 money would be available and they hospital bosses needed to start bidding for it.

Conservative parliamentary candidate Robin Walker met with Health Secretary Matt Hancock at Worcestershire Royal Hospital with the hope of a £40 million expansion of the hospital’s A&E department under discussion.

Redditch Conservative hopeful Rachel Maclean told Mr Hancock she would be fighting for services to be returned to the Alexandra Hospital.

The Alex has seen cuts including the loss of maternity and children's emergency services in recent years.

Mrs Maclean said: "The decision to remove services from the Alex was made by local health bosses before I was first elected.

“Health bosses and now the Health Secretary have all agreed to meet with me after the election, if I’m given the great honour of being re-elected, so that we can work constructively together to get services back at the Alex.

“The Alex has and will continue to be my top priority.”

However Mr Hancock left Worcester with a “clear and strong message” that Worcestershire Royal Hospital’s accident and emergency department needs to be made bigger in the face of some the worst delays on record.

Conservative parliamentary candidate Robin Walker Mr Hancock with the hope of a £40 million expansion of the hospital’s accident and emergency department under discussion.

Hospital performance in England is at its worst level on record, new figures by the NHS showed, with delays in A&E at its highest since targets were introduced.

Just over 76 per cent of people visiting an A&E in Worcestershire were admitted within four hours – almost 20 per cent off the target.

Mr Walker said the failure to meet the A&E waiting time target was due to “huge demand" and added the increase in demand strengthened the argument that the A&E department at Worcestershire Royal Hospital needed to expand.

Mr Walker said: “We need to make the space bigger and that should start with the A&E department.”

If a plan by the Herefordshire and Worcestershire sustainability and transformation partnership (STP) to “condense” the hospital’s cardiology and stroke department to free up space next to the A&E went ahead, Mr Walker said the expansion could start “within the next couple of years.”

NHS statistics published revealed the trust also missed a series of key targets in October, including patient waiting times for cancer care and non-urgent operations such as cataract removals and hip and knee replacements.