Future Fit plans approved by Health Secretary
Proposals to reorganise Shropshire's hospitals have been backed by Matt Hancock.
The decision, which local campaigners have called "dangerous, damaging, and nonsense", means the county's specialist women and children's unit will move from the Princess Royal Hospital to the Royal Shrewsbury.
Telford will become a centre for planned operations and care and will have a reduced accident and emergency department.
While Telford councillors have been expressing their anger, local MPs say the news is positive.
Lucy Allan, the Conservative MP for Telford, is welcoming a planned new "A&E Local" at the Princess Royal - the details of which have yet to be confirmed.
She said:
“Its clear to everyone we need an A&E in Telford. I am glad the Health Secretary recognises this need. That’s an important step forward.
“The A&E local for PRH announced today may be the much needed step forward in this sorry saga. The Government has provided the funding, but the hospital management seems unable to work out how to spend it in a way that delivers better hospital services for our area.
“Without having seen any details of the new A&E local for PRH, it’s not clear what services will be delivered. However, I am pleased the Health Secretary has confirmed Telford’s Princess Royal has been given the green light to establish its own A&E local and my constituents will not have to travel to Shrewsbury to access A&E.
“The Health Secretary expects a report back from NHS England with more details of the new A&E local within a month. We all want to know what A&E services the new A&E local will provide at the Princess Royal and when this will be introduced.
“Until we see the detail of the A&E local, the community remains wholly opposed to the Hospital Trust’s current plans. I understand the Future Fit plans cannot proceed until the A&E local plans are finalised."
In a tweet posted in response to this statement, Cllr Davies accused Ms. Allan of "taking Telford residents for fools".
Mark Pritchard, Wrekin MP, welcomed the additional funding:
Hospital chiefs said the decision was "fantastic news".
Paula Clark, Chief Executive at SaTH, said:
“This is great news for our Trust, but most importantly for the patients we serve across the whole of Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and Mid Wales and for our staff, who have been waiting for this decision for many long years.
“The Independent Reconfiguration Panel visited the county to speak not only to our clinicians, but also to those who have objected to the plans, and they have made it clear that the proposals that have been put forward should go ahead without further delay. That was the unanimous verdict of all members of the panel.”
Andrew Tapp, Medical Director for the Hospitals Transformation Programme at SaTH, said:
“This is great news and means we can now move forward to provide better care for our patients who require emergency treatment and planned operations.
“Our hospitals serve more than half a million people and we owe it to them to provide the very best services possible. The reconfiguration of PRH and RSH will allow us to address the difficulties created by our current clinical set up and estate and resolve the continuing problems of staffing and recruitment.
“There is still a long way to go, and our Hospitals Transformation Team will be working hard with clinical and estates teams across the Trust to make sure we get the best possible outcome from the huge investment in our health service in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin.