Harriett Baldwin has met with Health Minister Dan Poulter to lobby for extra funds to help county A&E departments deal with extra winter cases. And the MP joined her county colleagues writing to Jeremy Hunt to press for a share of the £250 million fund offered to hospital trusts this winter. Last week the MPs met with NHS Worcestershire Acute Trust chairman Harry Turner and chief executive Penny Venables to discuss plans to handle the extra workload during the winter. The Government has offered the Trust extra money from an emergency fund to allow it to hit Government targets for dealing with A&E admissions but the offer is lower than comparable Trusts in England. Local MPs Harriett Baldwin, Karen Lumley, Peter Luff, Mark Garnier and Robin Walker all met the Trust last week and signed a letter to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt arguing the Trust's case. Harriett met with the Health Minister in Westminster yesterday (Monday) to ask for a fairer settlement from the Department. Harriett commented: "County A&E departments have had trouble meeting Government targets and the management team asked for their MPs help at a meeting last week. "Every extra penny allocated to the Trust to help with the winter pressures is clearly good news but we all agreed that we wanted to make the case for a settlement that is equivalent to similar sized Trusts across England. "As winter approaches we all agree that the Trust needs to be ready to cope with the extra challenges that occur. Unpredictable events like harsh weather, or outcrops of the noro virus or flu can all put huge extra financial strain on the hospital. "As a group the MPs agreed to support this bid for fairer funding and I have directly raised this matter with the Minister and we eagerly await his response."