Fears were raised today that a possible £2 million project to create more hospital beds could signal the end of one of Shropshire’s two children’s inpatient wards.
The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust is looking to increase capacity within Telford’s Princess Royal by re-arranging departments and wards.
Action needs to be taken to cope with the growing demand for emergency care, which is expected to soar again next winter.
But it is claimed that the current paediatric outpatient department at the Princess Royal is to be gutted and refurbished, and the service provided from a demountable unit.
A letter to the Shropshire Star, from staff who do not wish to be named, says such units have a limited lifespan.
“As always, paediatric services are the ones that the trust seem determined to treat very unfairly,” it says.
“As far as we can see this is just another way of gradually reducing our services so that eventually they will justify closing the inpatient ward also.”
This, it is claimed, would force Telford families to travel to Shrewsbury.
Last year, trust chief executive Tom Taylor said one of the two inpatient wards – the other is at the Royal Shrewsbury – would have to close because of the need to reduce junior doctors’ working hours and difficulties in recruitment.
He warned that Shropshire’s paediatric inpatient services could be lost completely if there was another “enormous row” over whether they should be provided at Shrewsbury or Telford.
Mr Taylor, in a letter last month to Telford & Wrekin Council leader Andrew Eade, said the trust had been exploring the possibility of providing additional beds at the Princess Royal Hospital but the speediest solution was installing a “demountable” facility.
Today trust spokesman Adrian Osborne said that if paediatric outpatient services were to be provided from a modular building, the same amount of clinical space would be provided.
“In no way is this about downgrading paediatric services at Princess Royal Hospital,” he said.
By Health Correspondent Dave Morris
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10 Comments
sack them all
the NHS is bloated with beaurocrats
cut taxes and get rid of the public sector now
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tragic
in a recession the public sector is a good anchor
we must not see job losses from hospitals
we need more good quality doctors not less
come on people save these jobs
for the sake of the wider economy
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anything which saves moeny now should be considered to get the public finances back in good order
i think its rediculous that labour and tories think the NHS is ”off limits”
we all know the NHS is inefficient, nurses now are all on like £30k a year, i remember before clown brown they were on about £12k,
that says it all as far as im concerned, lets get rid of some services and let people get fit, eat better, be responsible,learn basic first aid, use the high st chemists more and take health insurance out
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we have put billions into the nhs for ten years now and for what
slightly less waiting times
BIG DEAL – i dont mind waiting for an operation
i would rather have lower taxes and private health care, thats why i’m voting for david cameron – to get taxes down
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nurses are on that much money because thay have to take a degree tell me ware some one working with a degree is not on that money thay will be on a lot more. hca are on 12 grand we all would get at least a third more pay in the private sector try geting electritions or enginners to work at a hospital
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I can’t believe some of you people. The NHS is an amazing system that has to deal with a huge demand. Nurses are not on 30k and even if they were how dare you begrudge them that. They have an incredibly difficult and stressful job, they work long hours and get little thanks. Paying them well enough to retain them and attract new nurses is essential. Lower pay would probably lead to the need to bring in foreign nurses and then there would be the usual cries of immigrants taking our jobs etc.
As for not minding the wait for a operation and having private health care, how selfish! Maybe you can afford to pay out, maybe you don’t have a life threatening illness where time is a key factor but thousands do and I have great pride that this country aims to take care of all of its citizens from birth to death irregardless of your income. I find the American system disgraceful.
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Nurses on £30k is a disgrace! So they’ve done a degree….millions of people have done degrees in this country but many, many, many graduates do not earn £20k, let alone £30k.
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It’s quite pitiful that contributors to these forums are willing to a) make up figures about public sector salaries, and b) believe almost any nonsense that’s written about them.
In order for a nurse to achieve a salary of £30k, he/she would need to be some way up ’scale 6′ (the pay scales are readily available on the internet).
This would be at a level of senior midwife or comparable, and would doubtless have been achieved after several hard-won promotions and many years of training and relevant experience, and require working unsociable hours etc. over a long period of time. Most nurses earn far less than £30k.
Personally I don’t begrudge them a penny of their pay – I wouldn’t do their jobs for that money.
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nurses, like teachers, make a choice to do that job. They enter employment with their eyes open.
If they don’t like the pay or the conditions, and enough of them whinge about it, don’t do the job.
Fact is Shropshire, including Telford & Wrekin, does not have a large enough population to support 2 hospitals. A district General Hospital supports a far larger population than here. One of them should go. If people don’t want to travel, then move to an area (a city) where less travel is required.
If you live in the country you can not expect the same services as in a city.
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i work at a hospital nurses are band 5 and have to work weekends and shifts all we ever get is people moaning even from friends or people in pub who we have never met befor seem to think we would like to now what thay think is rong whith nhs trust us we now all staff work hard you get excelent value for youre money
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