Designs to create a third hospital in Shropshire should be tailored to meet the needs of Telford’s growing population, the town’s MP has said.

David Wright said poverty hotspots and other social factors indicated a need for hospital services to be focused on Telford.

The town’s population is expected to swell to more than 200,000 in the next two decades. By 2026, at least 26,500 new homes will have been built in the borough of Telford and Wrekin.

And the current planning review suggests that figure could expand to more than 30,000.

“Anyone can see the logic of structuring services around Telford,” said Mr Wright.

“Services should not be based on how the county looked 50-years-ago, or even 10-years-ago; they should be based on how it looks now and how it is going to look.”

The Labour MP raised the issue with ministers in the Commons on Thursday during the Easter adjournment debate – the last chance for MPs to highlight matters before the Easter recess.

Shambles

The idea of a new hospital – possibly between Shrewsbury and Telford – is included in proposals for a massive overhaul of the way healthcare is delivered in Shropshire over the next five years and up to 2020.

Mr Wright said the process had now become “an over-complicated shambles” and had been made worse after it was decided the proposals should be reviewed by independent body, the National Clinical Advisory Team, before being taken further.

“We should be designing health services for the people of Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin not, I add, for mid-Wales, with apologies to colleagues from mid-Wales,” he told the chamber.

Under proposals, the Royal Shrewsbury and Telford’s Princess Royal hospitals would remain open.

Shropshire’s four NHS watchdogs are carrying out a feasibility study to see whether it is possible for Shropshire to have a single acute hospital treating the county’s most seriously ill and injured patients.

The study will look at possible locations for developing a single acute services site, the facilities it will need, and funding.

Options include building a new hospital or developing either the Royal Shrewsbury or Telford’s Princess Royal.

By Sunita Patel and Dave Morris