The ptrotest outside the meeting at the Park Inn, Telford

More than 200 people packed a meeting in Telford to give health chiefs a rough ride over plans which could see the Princess Royal Hospital downgraded in the next three to four years.

Placard-waving protesters gathered outside the Park Inn in the town centre before yesterday’s meeting of NHS Telford & Wrekin and inside the meeting room the public mood was one of anger at the controversial plans.

An army of residents went along determined to have their say at the meeting but many left angry claiming their voices were not being heard.

Shirley Bruneau, from Old Park, in Telford, said: “I came out of the meeting feeling very frustrated.

“There is an argument that says consultation is about hearing and listening to what people say, and then doing what you want to do anyway.

“I feel that is what they are doing here. It has already been decided to move services away from Princess Royal Hospital and there is not a thing we can do about it.”

Husband and wife Martin and Jo Walters from Little Dawley, Telford, left the meeting equally frustrated.

“It felt like we were talking to a brick wall,” Mrs Walters said.

Mr Walters said: “They are not listening and at the end of the day they will do what they want to do.

“The meeting tonight has been a complete and utter waste of time. All it boils down to time and time again is money.”

Others continued to make last-ditch pleas to keep accident and emergency and paediatric wards running, arguing they provided an essential service.

Allison Edwards from Muxton, Telford, and her 12-year-old autistic son Jonathan attended the meeting.

She said: “There is not an ounce of compassion from the people in there, it is about money and that is it.

“I don’t have regular appointments at the hospital with Jonathan but I never know what to expect – the other day he was chewing through live electric cables. I need Princess Royal Hospital to be there but it’s all about bureaucracy.”

Pam Horton, from Leegomery, Telford, suffers from arthritis and attends Princess Royal at least once a month.

She said she also had to make regular appointments for three of her four children and was worried about the impact on their education if paediatric services were moved to Shrewsbury.

“I don’t drive so I am going to struggle to get my children there,” the 38-year-old said.

“It means more time off school for them and it is detrimental to their education. I already have to take them out of school for appointments now, so I am worried I will end up getting in trouble with the school if they need to have more time off.”

Tom Jones, from Shifnal, said: “The people of Shifnal and the surrounding areas fought hard to get the Princess Royal Hospital, before that we had to travel to Wolverhampton or Shrewsbury.

“We need two brilliant hospitals, we need both hospitals and we need both accident and emergency departments operating 24 hours a day. There should be no segregation of services.”

Peter Holdaway, of Eyton, near Wroxeter, questioned how many surgeons could be employed with the £18 million quoted to transfer all services to Shrewsbury.

Wellington town councillor Mary Lewis said her preferred option would be to see a hospital on a single site by 2020.

But she added: “I am concerned about what happens in the meantime. My concerns are around the recruitment and retention of staff and how moving services to one hospital will affect that.”

Cecilia Walden, of Bridgnorth, said she could not see how transferring services to either Telford or Shrewsbury could work as Shropshire is such a large county.

“It’s such a complicated issue and I am still trying to get my head around it,” she said. “Shropshire is such a large county that I really can’t see it working if A&E is centred just in Shrewsbury for the people of Telford.

“In the same way, for people in Powys it wouldn’t work for A&E to be in Telford.”

Jane Greenaway, a councillor for the Lawley and Overdale wards, said housing developments and population growth in Telford meant the hospital must stay.

She said: “I am concerned about the possible downgrading of children’s services.

“In our ward we have the largest development currently ongoing in the UK, with 3,300 new homes being built.

“There are 26,500 new homes being built in the borough, you could be looking at 70,000 plus extra people.

“We were assured by the hospital trust that our hospital would grow with our population in Telford but it doesn’t look like that.”

By Wayne Beese