BARKING MP Margaret Hodge found patients at Queen’s Hospital giving it a good report during an unannounced visit to the building.

Mrs Hodge, who is against the closure of the A&E and maternity department at King George Hospital in Goodmayes, took a tour around the ward of the Romford Hospital yesterday, together with Ilford South MP Mike Gapes.

Both MPs believe Queen’s would struggle to cope with the extra patients and have launched a campaign to get the decision overturned.

While making their “rounds” they chatted with patients asking how long they had been waiting, to which the response was a positive “not long”.

Following the visit Mrs Hodge said: “It was not busy this morning so the A&E was fine except there were a few people waiting in the corridors on trolleys, which I do not like. My concern is how they would cope with a big increase in patients.”