Expectant mothers in Mid Wales will have to travel further if maternity services are moved from Shrewsbury to Telford, an MP has warned. Glyn Davies said the proposals were causing “huge concern”.

He said the concern was not only among Shropshire residents, but also across the border.

The Tory MP said his constituents rely on specialist health services in Shropshire, particularly consultancy-led maternity provision, because there is no district general hospital in his Montgomeryshire constituency.

He said it already took some mothers an hour to travel to the maternity unit at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital. Relocating women and children’s services to Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital would add another half-an-hour to the journey.

A public consultation is under way for a mass reconfiguration of maternity services in Shropshire.

Speaking in a Westminster debate on the provision of maternity services, Mr Davies said: “The Royal Shrewsbury Hospital is just over the border from Mid Wales. All the traditional pathways from there have been to the Royal Shrewsbury. We are used to it, and it is relatively close.”

He accused Shropshire health chiefs of steaming ahead with the reorganisation of the county’s two main hospitals without taking into account the impact on Welsh patients.

Health Minister Anne Milton said cross-border healthcare was a “difficult” issue, adding: “It is critical that we get that care right”.