Health chiefs in Telford were today expected to scrap plans for the “immediate” transfer of services from the Princess Royal Hospital to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.

Board members of the NHS Telford and Wrekin primary care trust are under intense pressure to ditch the proposal following a series of meetings last week.

They will instead be urged to back a move to develop a countywide network of vascular surgeons working across both hospitals.

This should safeguard vascular surgery at the Princess Royal for the next three to five years.

The proposal has come from the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust and has found favour with Shropshire’s NHS watchdog, which has said it would like such a network established “as soon as possible”.

Shropshire County Primary Care Trust, which initially voted in favour of the “immediate” transfer of services to Shrewsbury, is now prepared to work towards the development of a surgeons’ network, if details are examined by outside experts.

There are fears within the health service and among the county’s two big councils, that if way forward is not agreed soon it could lead to a bitter fight between Shrewsbury and Telford for the control of key services.

Shrewsbury MP Daniel Kawczynski today stoked concerns by revealing he had called on hospital trust chief executive Tom Taylor to abandon the network plan.

He has written to Mr Taylor claiming health chiefs have ignored expert medical advice for an “immediate” switch of services from Telford to Shrewsbury following a “politically motivated” campaign to save facilities at the PRH.

“I have made a direct appeal to Mr Taylor to discount the idea of a rota system because surgeons have told me that it is vital that vascular services are on the one site from a safety perspective,” he said.

“This interim solution for a rota system is just a political fig leaf which impedes the medical progress which needs to occur to ensure that services are provided in the most effective way.”

NHS Telford and Wrekin primary care trust was to have made a decision last week on the “immediate” plan but could not because of a technical legal problem.

By Health Correspondent Dave Morris