A Shropshire health chief is to speak at a public meeting to thrash out ways of safeguarding the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford, it was revealed today.

Tom Taylor, chief executive of the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust, has agreed to talk at the meeting which has been arranged for February 10.

The meeting, to be held at Belmont Hall in Wellington, has been arranged by Labour and Co-operative Party campaigner Paul Kalinauckas.

He said following a public outcry over planned cuts to services at the PRH, which were eventually shelved by health chiefs, a long-term solution was needed to secure the hospital’s future.

He added: “In the wake of the outpouring of public frustration over the threat to the PRH, we saw a number of petitions and public meetings in protest over possible cuts.

“We must find a long-term solution and I believe achieving foundation hospital trust status will allow the public to have their say as voting members.”

He said: “The purpose of the meeting is to promote the benefits of public membership of the FT and how members can have their say on the future of the services such as those at the PRH.”

Health Secretary Andy Burnham said last month that NHS chiefs must take on board the views of residents before rubber-stamping healthcare reforms.

The “immediate” threat of some hospital services being switched from Telf-ord’s Princess Royal to the RSH was lifted last month.