A massive public protest is expected in Telford today at a crunch health meeting which campaigners fear could lead to the Princess Royal Hospital being downgraded and services moved to Shrewsbury.

Civic leaders will be calling on the board of the borough primary care trust – NHS Telford and Wrekin – to resign if the vote goes against keeping full services at the hospital.

Meanwhile Wrekin MP Mark Pritchard is due to present his a petition against cuts to local health services to Parliament later today.

He will also meet next month with Health Secretary Andy Burnham MP to discuss the future of acute and paediatric services at the Princess Royal.

Mr Pritchard said he would be “pressing the case for Telford” and ensuring services were safe in “the long term as well as the short term” when they meet in mid-November.

The primary care trust this afternoon will be considering recommendations that could mean removal of vascular services from the Princess Royal to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital under an “immediate” plan with other major services at Telford only secure for up to three years.

Health chiefs claim that changes are necessary to ensure patient services in Shropshire are safe and can be maintained. The ultimate goal is to concentrate all acute services on one site by 2020, possibly in a brand new hospital.

But Telford & Wrekin Council leader Andrew Eade called on trust directors to put the “interests of the people of the borough first” and vote to keep all services at the PRH.

He said: “They may play down the implications of moving vascular surgery elsewhere all they like, but local people should be in no doubt that it will have a serious effect on the retention of other services at the PRH.”

He added: “If the board ignores the massive public outcry at these proposals, we will be calling on them to resign.

“Local people are sick of having to fight to retain their local hospital and the strength of this feeling is demonstrated by the fact that more than 10,000 people have signed the SOS PRH petition.”

Hundreds of people are expected to attend the trust board meeting, being held at Park Inn, Forgegate, at 4pm.

By Health Correspondent Dave Morris