Opposition MPs take Govt to task over region's ailing health system

FUNDING for family doctors in Devon is in crisis, sewage is leaking into hospitals and budgets are being cut.

- by GUY HENDERSON Local Democracy Reporter [e-mail]

Dentists and pharmacies are struggling and fertility treatment is a 'postcode lottery.'

The bleak picture of the county's health service was catalogued by its MPs during a Westminster debate on funding for vital health services in the South West.

Torbay Liberal Democrat MP Steve Darling led the debate, and said the state of the NHS had been a 'key theme' for voters during last year's election campaign.

"We knew the NHS was a shambles, but we did not know the challenge that would face the new government when they came to power," he said. Money for the new hospital programme had run out, with a £6.6billion 'hole' in the budget.

Torbay Hospital, he said, was the third-oldest in the UK and only 6% of its buildings are up to standard.