Shropshire could be left with just one in-patients ward for children and see a major shake-up of its accident and emergency departments under new plans drawn up by the county’s top doctors.

Although A&E units would remain at both the Royal Shrewsbury and Princess Royal Hospitals, one would deal with the most seriously injured such as road victims.

The proposals have been put forward by the Clinical Leaders Forum, made up of senior doctors, nurses and other health care professionals from the county’s four NHS trusts.

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Over the past six months the forum has been looking at various scenarios and has now produced four clinical options, focussing particularly on emergency and in-patient children’s services.

The forum says that to ensure that inpatient children’s services are safe and sustainable they need to be provided at one of the two hospitals.

The group is also continuing to work on a longer-term vision for health services. The aim is eventually to have services for the seriously ill and injured provided at a single site.

The proposals also focus on bringing more care closer to home for patients and communities, promoting healthier lifestyles and providing accessible local hospital services.

The forum proposes that the majority of health care services at the Royal Shrewsbury and Princess Royal can and should remain at both sites in the medium term.

But minor surgery out-patient appointments and many types of scans will increasingly take place in the community, such as GP surgeries, rather than the two hospitals.

The next phase is to under take a detailed assessment of their proposals covering such issues as the impact on local communities, the financial aspects and clinical quality.

This is expected to lead to a “shortlist” of more detailed options for public consultation in the spring.

Final decisions on the forum’s proposals will be made later next year. 

Simon Conolly, chief executive of Telford & Wrekin Primary Care Trust, said  changes were necessary to insure the people of Shropshire continued to receive high quality and sustainable services.

By Health Correspondent Dave Morris