Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin Clinical Commissioning Groups have unanimously approved that Shrewsbury will become a specialist Emergency Care site.
At a meeting on Tuesday evening, the CCGs approved Option 1 of the NHS Future Fit plans which means the Princess Royal Hospital (PRH) in Telford will become a dedicated Planned Care site and the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (RSH) will become a specialist Emergency Care site.
The decision follows last year’s consultation which began at the end of May and closed at midnight on Tuesday 11 September 2018.
Over 14,000 people submitted their response to the consultation and public events were attended by 900 people and 2,000 people dropped into one of the pop-up displays.
David Evans, Chief Officer at NHS Telford & Wrekin CCG commented:
“Today marks the dawn of an exciting new era for our hospital services. We understand that people have concerns and the numbers that attended the meeting today highlights just how passionate people are about the NHS. However, we are equally passionate about ensuring that our patients benefit from the best NHS treatment possible and the decision we have made today is vital for the future of patient care. Both the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and the Princess Royal Hospital will continue to provide the services our patients use the most. These include outpatient appointments, midwife led services, tests and urgent care.
“People can be assured that this is not a downgrading of services. This is all about a huge improvement in the care that patients will receive and the majority of patients are still going to be seen in their local hospital in the urgent care centre. In order for the local NHS to deliver top quality emergency care, we need all specialities on one site.”
Dr Simon Freeman, Accountable Officer for NHS Shropshire CCG said:
“We recognise that not everyone will agree with the decision made by the Joint Committee today, but people can be assured that we are acting in the best interests of our patients. Our doctors, nurses and other health professionals strongly believe that hospital services have to change for the better and this view is shared by our regulator, NHS England.
“The changes that have been agreed by the Joint Committee today will mean that patients receive the best care in the right place at the right time, in better facilities with reduced waiting times. It will also mean we can attract the very best doctors and nurses to work at our hospitals and we can maintain the right level of highly skilled clinicians across both our hospitals. The new model of patient care also takes into account the expected changes in our population over the coming years and how the best care can be provided for everyone. I also want to reassure our communities, patients and staff that no services will change overnight. Robust plans will now need to be developed that will include a phased building programme over the next five years.
“We are all extremely grateful to the thousands of people who took part in the consultation and look forward to continuing to involve patients and the public over the coming years.” Now that the decision has been made, it will take several years for the programme to be completed. A significant amount of work will need to be done to implement the huge improvements that patients will experience.”
Trust welcomes decision
The Trust which runs Shropshire’s two acute hospitals has welcomed the decision.
Simon Wright, Chief Executive of The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH), which runs RSH and PRH, said:
“We are delighted that a decision on the future of our hospitals has been made and that we can now get on with the work of planning and creating two new, state-of-the-art hospitals to provide the best care for the whole population of Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and mid Wales.
“The decision means we can begin to shape the future for all of our services, which will help us to attract more staff, improve facilities for our people and develop healthcare that will benefit everyone.”
Dr Edwin Borman, Medical Director at SaTH, added: “This announcement means we will now be able to provide improved services for the 500,000 people we serve and improved facilities, which will help us recruit more of the very best people in their fields.
“These two re-developed hospitals will provide improved emergency care and improved planned care. It is important to remember that the majority of people who access our current A&Es will still be able to have treatment at their nearest hospital when the reconfiguration is complete. Only those most seriously ill and injured patients, in the main people who need to be taken to hospital in a blue-light ambulance, will need to access the new Emergency Centre, which will have the right people and the right equipment in place to ensure they are treated as quickly as possible.”
Deirdre Fowler, Director of Nursing, Midwifery and Quality at SaTH, said: “The reconfiguration of our hospitals will allow us to address many of the historic issues we have been dealing with in terms of the age of our hospitals and the way they are set up. This is not the end of the journey; we will turn our focus to ensuring that services in each hospital are the best they can be, and our patients will play a vital role in that through co-producing services in the future.”
Council makes plans to refer decision to Health Secretary
Telford & Wrekin Council’s leader Cllr Shaun Davies, cabinet colleagues and members of the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee are requesting the EGM to secure the support needed for the Council to refer the CCGs’ decision to the Health Secretary to ensure that this is reviewed further.
Cllr Davies said: “Future Fit had two options and the CCGs have meekly followed what they have been told to do, despite this decision, in so many ways, making no sense.
“How can it make sense to back an option that would mean the NHS having to borrow £62 million more when our preference can deliver the same services for everybody in Telford and Wrekin, Shropshire and mid Wales but for far less cost.
“How can it make sense to ignore the views of the majority of people in Future Fit’s own consultation – almost two thirds of whom don’t support the chosen option?
“How can it make sense to move the Women & Children’s Centre away from Telford when it was there because of clinical need at a cost of £28 million just four years ago?
“This crazy decision must be stopped. Over many years we have asked various Health Secretaries to step in and they have refused to do so. By referring it to the Secretary of State for Health in this legal way it would force the issue onto his desk and he will have to intervene.
“The Government can no longer shirk its responsibilities by saying it’s a local decision. The Government would be writing the cheque for the loan to pay for the downgrade of Telford’s A&E department and the closure of its consultant led Women and Children’s Centre.
“I trust the Council will support the referral of this deeply flawed decision, which will harm health services in our borough and much further.
“The Government would then make the final decision and ensure that common sense wins.”
You can watch a recording of the meeting below:
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