Shropshire hospitals £312m overhaul to start next year
The Deputy Prime Minister told the Commons work will start in 2023.
Dominic Raab responded to a question from Shrewsbury MP Daniel Kawczynski at Prime Minister's Questions this lunchtime.
The Conservative MP raised concerns about the Future Fit programme, which will see major changes at both the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Princess Royal Hospital in Telford.
The Shrewsbury & Telford Hospital NHS Trust plans to reorganise services across the two sites, with the county's main A&E relocating to Shrewsbury along with consultant-led women's and children's services.
Addressing Mr Raab in the Commons, Mr Kawczynski said: "We are investing nearly £190 billion this year into the NHS and yet many of us see disturbing deficiencies within NHS management, no more so than at the Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust.
"Four years ago in 2018 my right honourable friend from Ludlow and I secured £312 million for a major A&E modernisation within out local hospital trust. Four years on, construction has still not started.
"What message can the Deputy Prime Minister give to the people of Shrewsbury as to how government can intervene to break this gridlock and finally allow the £312m we have secured to be utilised for the benefit of the people of Shropshire and Mid Wales?"
Mr Raab responded: "My honourable friend is a doughty champion of his constituents, particularly on NHS services.
"The DHSC recently received the strategic outline case for the transformation of A&E services in Shrewsbury and Telford and it is still being processed, but I can tell him the trust is aiming to present the full business case in 2023, with construction starting in the same year."