ST HELENS North MP Conor McGinn says the root cause for the financial crisis gripping the NHS in the borough is the Government and has demanded the town gets a fair share in funding.

McGinn was speaking after St Helens Clinical Commissioning Group announced it was scrapping a proposal to cancel non-urgent hospital referrals.

It follows a public outcry - and criticisms by the BMA - following a report in last week's Star about suggested cost cutting measures.

The health body is looking at severe measures to make up a £12.5m shortfall in its funding.

Ruling out IVF treatment for women under the age of 37 and scrapping prescriptions for some over the counter medicines remain on the table.

In a statement, McGinn said he had held talks with the CCG prior to their decision to scrap the proposal to suspend referrals.

He said: "I sought an urgent meeting with the CCG to discuss this and met the chair Geoffrey Appleton yesterday to outline my serious concerns about the impact the proposals would have on my constituents.

"It was a frank and constructive meeting and I want to place on record my thanks to Geoffrey Appleton for the work he is doing as chair of the CCG in these extraordinarily difficult circumstances.

"I welcome the news that the CCG will not now proceed with proposals to cancel GP referrals and non-urgent operations.

"This will be greeted with relief across St Helens. However, there are still outstanding issues around finances and service provision and I will continue to work with the Department of Health, NHS, St Helens CCG, St Helens Council and other partners to find a resolution to these.

"I do, however, want to be clear about the root cause of the position St Helens CCG finds itself in.

"The blame lies squarely with this Tory Government which over its six years in office has caused a financial and staffing crisis in the NHS.

"St Helens is at the sharp end of this because it receives inadequate funding to meet the needs of an ageing population and higher incidences of long-term illnesses and mental health issues.

"I will continue to stand up for our community and campaign for a publicly and properly-funded NHS, and demand that St Helens gets it fair share so that people here receive the health service to which they are entitled."