A CITY councillor waited seven hours for surgery before being sent home due to a bed shortage, a situation she says will only get worse as more homes are built.

Ceri Stalker was admitted and changed into a gown at Worcestershire Royal Hospital on Tuesday around 7.40am in preparation for an operation related to a gastric issue.

But she was sent home at 2.15pm because “no beds were available” and told her new date would be in around four weeks time, even though she had already waited 18 weeks for the surgery.

The councillor, who represents Warndon, said: “It happens across the NHS, it’s not the fault of any staff members, just life in our underfunded service.”

She said the hospital is “not big enough now” and asked “what will it be like when thousands more homes are built across the region?”

She said: “It’s indicative of the whole NHS.

“They need more beds because they can’t know what’s going to come in to the A&E.

"If someone comes in and it’s an emergency, they obviously need the beds, of course I understand that but it’s frustrating.

“But obviously it’s hard for anyone to plan for things – you have to tell people you’re not available and then suddenly you are available, and you haven’t had anything done yet.

“I’m not criticising the staff but the hospital has basically never been big enough since it was built.

"It’s the same all over the country.”

Cllr Stalker said with more homes being built, including the new ‘super village’ for over 2,000 homes between St Peter’s and Kempsey, more hospital funding is desperately needed.

She said one of the main things people look for when coming into a new area is NHS care.

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals Trust is set to come out of special measures after four years after a CQC inspection rated it ‘requires improvement’ rather than ‘inadequate’.

Chief executive Matthew Hopkins, while pleased, said the trust has still “got a lot to do” to improve efficiency including managing finances better before more government funding is made available.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced 40 hospitals will be built in England over the next decade.

A trust spokesman apologised for any cancellations and said such decisions were “not taken lightly." He added: "Every effort is made to avoid them wherever possible.”

The trust aims to reschedule cancelled operations within 28 days and the spokesman said measures were in place to improve the efficiency of the operating theatres.”