Tom Taylor, chief executive of the Shrewsbury & Telford Hospital NHS Trust, has confirmed what the Shropshire branch of the Campaign for an English Parliament has been saying for the last couple of years: Treating Welsh patients in Shropshire hospitals is costing millions of pounds that could be spent on the treatment of English patients.

Mr Taylor says that treating Welsh patients in the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford is costing the trust £2 million per year because of differences in funding and targets.

The Campaign for an English Parliament doesn’t have a problem with Welsh patients being treated in English hospitals, but the NHS trusts involved have a responsibility to ensure that in treating patients from another country they don’t compromise the treatment of patients living in England.

It isn’t unreasonable to expect the Welsh government to pay the going rate for medical treatment in England, especially when in some cases they are entitled to medication in English hospitals that English patients aren’t allowed.

Mr Taylor said that it would be much easier for the trust if the “English Parliament” made Wales pay the going rate.

The fact that Mr Taylor believes there is an “English Parliament” or a “Government in England” to represent English interests when England hasn’t had a government for more than 300 years shows a disturbing lack of understanding.

Stuart Parr, Shropshire Branch Campaign for an English Parliament