Len Tingle Political Editor, BBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire

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A Souvenir of pain: kidney stones removed by keyhole surgery

Wendy Dartford has two reminders of her medical condition. The first is a test tube full of what look like small irregular pebbles. The second is the excruciating pain that she has to bear.

Wendy suffers from "stag horn" kidney stones which her body produces on a regular basis. Her test tube of souvenirs was removed from her body by keyhole surgery.

What is so frustrating is that she has been told by her consultant that she could be spared both the surgery and the pain if her local hospital had equipment which could treat her condition using lasers.

Queen Elizabeth Hospital officials admit they are facing a cash crisis

"We know it will cost �40,000 and the hospital says it cannot afford to buy it.

"This week the consultant is renting a machine so I will get some treatment, but I need it more regularly and so do other people," she tells Politics Show.

Health Officials who run her local Queen Elizabeth hospital at Kings Lynn in North Norfolk admit they have to make cutbacks as they are over �10m in the red.

John Bolton: neither staff, public nor patients want to see beds lying empty

"This is a modern and well respected hospital," says Patients Association Chairman John Bolton.

"We have been let down by the government. It has under funded us by millions.

"It is unfortunate that 10% of the beds here cannot be filled because the money is not there to pay for them."

The position in North Norfolk is echoed at community hospitals across the region.

In Skegness local residents have taken to the streets to protest about a ward in their local cottage hospital being shut until next year to save cash.

In East Yorkshire, there is a similar squeeze at the Hornsea Memorial Hospital where the minor injuries department is under threat.

Protest in Skegness against community hospital closure

The Conservatives are launching a campaign to save these services. In Hornsea local MP Graham Stuart says any cut backs are "unacceptable".

North Norfolk MP Henry Bellingham has already forced a debate in the House of Commons.

The Department of health points to billions of pounds of extra cash pushed into the health service since Labour came to power.

It also says local health authorities have to decide how that money is spent.

"Well, if there is extra cash it does not seem to be getting to the cutting edge of the health service," says Henry Bellingham.

"I would just like to know where it is going."

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