Antoinette Sandbach, MP for Eddisbury, has hit back at a Wrexham councillor who she says has deliberately misrepresented comments made about Welsh patients placing pressure on English NHS care.

Ms Sandbach, a former Welsh Assembly Member, appeared on Sunday Politics’s North West edition when she said that patients from north Wales are heading to the Countess of Chester Hospital and putting it under pressure.

Carrie Harper, a Plaid Cymru member of Wrexham Council, accused the Eddisbury MP – which covers Malpas – of finding someone else to blame while NHS services are being cut or cancelled or strike action by junior doctors.

But Ms Sandbach hit back.

“In a desperate bid to drum up interest in her no hope candidacy, Carrie Harper sought to stir up division between North Wales and Cheshire by misrepresenting the comments made,” she said.

“I was clear in stating that ‘people across the UK deserve access to high quality medical care close to home’.

“It was the Welsh Labour government with the support of Plaid Cymru who cut funding for the NHS in Wales and it was the decisions taken at that time which has led to the ongoing problems in Wales.

“It is no surprise that patients in Wales are accessing services in England given that hospitals in Cheshire are performing dramatically better.”

If the Welsh Government were willing to take the necessary steps to improve the delivery of service, perhaps we’d see fewer Welsh people seeking treatment in England as they would have that high quality service nearby.”