Worcestershire Royal Hospital is one of the hospitals affected

Michael Foster, MP for Worcester, said he had been told by the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust that waiting time targets would still be met.

The trust said the job cuts were needed to help tackle debts of �30m.

It runs the Worcestershire Royal in Worcester, the Alexandra in Redditch, and the Kidderminster Hospital.

Mr Foster told BBC Hereford and Worcester TV: "It is deeply anxious times clearly for all the people who work at the acute trust at the three sites.

"720 job losses is not something we should under estimate in terms of the impact it might have."

Hospitals saved

He said he had spoken to the trust's chief executive, John Rostill, who had assured him waiting times targets will still be met.

Mr Foster said he had been assured that "patients will not be affected by the job cuts".

In recent weeks, hospitals across England have announced large job cuts in a bid to balance the books.

The Save Kidderminster Hospital campaign saw an MP elected

Mr Rostill told BBC Radio Hereford and Worcester he had every intention of remaining in his job and overseeing the plans to reduce the �30m deficit.

The cuts mean one-in-seven staff at the hospitals will lose their jobs.

The job losses proposal is subject to consultation with staff and is expected to save the trust about �8m this financial year and �16m in the next one, starting April 2007.

The trust now employs 4,500 staff and has frozen more than 100 posts, which will count towards the 720 jobs to go.