A LABOUR shadow health minister pledged to turn around the state of the NHS in the region during a visit to Latchford to speak on issues surrounding the service on Monday.

Luciana Berger joined Warrington South's Labour candidate Nick Bent at Westy Community Centre to put forward plans in place to tackle areas of concern including access to GPs, cancer tests and mental health.

The pair were questioned by councillors and parish councillors to discuss matters of importance to residents in the town.

Mr Bent has vowed to improve the state of the NHS in Warrington within a year if a Labour Government is brought in on May 7 - a view echoed by Ms Berger.

"This is the only party that has a fully-funded and costed plan in place to support the NHS - it was Labour who created it and it will be left to Labour to defend it and ensure we have it for decades to come," she said.

"We are the only party with a 10-year plan for the NHS. In the north west this will equate to more than 3,000 nurses and 1,000 GPs - one in four are waiting over a week to get access to a GP appointment.

"We said everyone will be able to access a GP appointment if they need it within 48 hours and we will also guarantee people have access to cancer tests within a week - that is a massive issue, particularly in the north west."

Ms Berger also promised to improve services for those suffering from mental health.

She added: "Mental health will be treated the same as physical health and we will bring it together with social care as well - we want to treat the whole person.

"It is not right that there was a cut to mental health services."

Mr Bent admitted Warrington Hospital has 'serious problems' but insisted these will only increase unless Labour is brought into power.

"The NHS is in a bad way in Warrington - it has not got enough staff and is going through a form of financial investigation," he said.

"I meet a lot of voters angry with David Cameron because he promised people that they can trust him with the NHS and he has let them down.

"I think people here are really worried about the NHS. Also, under this Government we are not training enough nurses here - it is bad for the taxpayer, NHS and patients.

"David Cameron has caused chaos and wasted a lot of public money."