A SENIOR health boss has admitted Worcestershire Royal Hospital is "not big enough" to cope with demand - with the number of patients coming through the doors nearly DOUBLE the recommended limit.

Your Worcester News can reveal how the site, which has spent the winter desperately struggling with a deluge of patients, is only designed for 45,000 A&E visitors every year.

But the royal, which opened in 2002 under a controversial Private Finance Initiative (PFI), is now getting 75,000 patients through the doors, with the trust having the busiest year it has ever seen.

Harry Turner, the chairman of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, attended a Worcester General Election hustings at the Cap 'N' Gown pub last night to speak of his exasperation.

He also revealed how the deluge in demand is likely to increase, with the trust expecting it to rise to 95,000 in future years.

During the debate Worcester's parliamentary candidates also said the hospital was too small - with Conservative Robin Walker suggesting it should never have been signed off but his main rival Councillor Joy Squires blaming the current Government for its plight.

Mr Turner, who was invited to address the pub over the NHS, said: "Worcestershire Royal's A&E was built for 45,000 patients a year, but over the last year it will have seen 75,000 people and we expect that to rise further, to 95,000.

"It's not big enough."

We can also reveal how former Health Secretary Stephen Dorrell, who has just retired as an MP, expressed concerns about the planned hospital in the 1990s under the old John Major Government.

Mr Dorrell refused to sign off the PFI deal when he held the ministerial brief, between 1995 and 1997.

At the time Mr Walker ended up working for him as a helper, and told the pub-goers he remembers lobbying him about it.

"The royal is too small to cope with the demands placed upon it," he said.

"I remember Stephen Dorrell refusing to sign it off prior to 1997, and I said to him 'Worcester needs this fantastic new hospital, why aren't you agreeing to this?'

"He told me it was too expensive and would not be big enough for 10 years down the road, he wanted to wait and get a better deal.

"I do think it was rushed through, and that was a mistake."

But Councillor Squires, standing for Labour in Worcester, said she was "proud" of her party's NHS record and insisted the Tories had overseen "a crisis" in A&E.

"Two weeks ago I had a phone call from a Worcester GP who told me their practise was on the brink of financial collapse," she said.

WE CAN FUND FREE HOSPITAL PARKING, SAYS UKIP

THE UK Independence Party is calling for free parking at hospitals in Worcestershire - saying it should be funded by asking foreigners to take out health insurance.

During Worcester's Cap 'N' Gown General Election hustings last night the candidates spent three hours clashing over the future of the nation's NHS.

In the debate UKIP activist Andrew Newman, filling in for parliamentary candidate James Goad, said the party would raise £2 billion by asking migrants to pay for "health care insurance".

Mr Newman, a council candidate in Claines, said that policy would plug the gap to offer free parking at sites like Worcestershire Royal, insisting too many people find the charges "a burden".

The night also saw clashes between Labour candidate Joy Squires and Conservative Robin Walker, with Councillor Squires saying he should have campaigned over keeping the Farrier Street walk-in clinic open.

During a long tirade about the pressures on the NHS she also said she felt it was "in crisis" with people not able to see GPs quickly, too many operations cancelled, delayed discharges into social care settings and an A&E "struggling to cope".

"Locally, I'd also suggest pressure is being put on A&E by the closure of the walk-in centre, which I and many others in this room campaigned to save, but others didn't," she said.

She also told the pub Labour would put a cap on any profits firms can make from NHS services and repel the Health and Social Care Act, alongside funding for 8,000 more GPs, 20,000 extra nurses and 3,000 new midwives.

Mr Walker said he deliberately chose not to campaign over saving it after taking advice from health professionals.

"I considered a similar campaign but talked to GPs and other health professionals long and hard about this, and accepted what they said about it," he said.

He told the pub that instead of trying to block its closure, he lobbied the Government for funding from the Prime Minister's £100 million Challenge Fund, of which south Worcestershire got £2.8 million last month to fund weekend and evening GP surgeries.

During the debate Green parliamentary candidate Louis Stephen insisted 30-year PFI deals for hospitals are "madness", and said the old Labour Government oversaw "more privatisation than the Conservatives could ever have got away with".

Lib Dem candidate Federica Smith said her party would put an extra £500 million into mental health, while Peter McNally, from the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition, said a "massive campaign" over "saving the NHS" is needed.

He called for the end of prescription charges, the nationalisation of the pharmaceutical industry, and defended “brave” whistleblowers who speak out on poor care.

Mr Stephen said the Green Party would be prepared to buy out PFI deals where possible, and insisted it would also repel the Health and Social Care Act, tackle air pollution and improve walking and cycling provision.

Miss Smith told the pub a genuine “cross party” consensus is needed on the future of the NHS and social care.

During the debate, Mr Walker pointed out that less than six per cent of NHS services are ran privately, of which 4.9 per cent was under Labour.

“If we were going to privatise the NHS, frankly, I wouldn’t be a Conservative,” he said, claiming other parties were peddling myths about it.

Baron Fullstop, from the Monster Raving Loony Party, turned up and said “free drugs, sex and rock and roll” was on the cards for all 100-year-olds under a Loony Government – and told the pub they’d seek to make hospital waiting lists smaller by shrinking the font on everyone’s names.

* Next week's Cap 'N' Gown hustings gets underway from 7pm on Monday, where they will debate education.

The first hour will be featured in a live broadcast by BBC Hereford & Worcester.