More than 600 people have signed a petition on the Prime Minister’s website demanding services are not lost at Shropshire’s two main hospitals.

County health chiefs are rethinking plans to shake up services in the area because of an NHS funding squeeze. It follows fierce opposition to the possible transfer of some services from the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford to the Royal Shrewsbury.

But fears still remain that either of the hospitals could lose vital services because of pressure to centralise certain departments including cardio vascular surgery.

The petition on the Number 10 website calls on Gordon Brown to retain and improve services at both sites. A total of 627 people have so far signed up with a deadline for people to make their feelings known by September 29, 2010.

A statement accompanying the petition by Kathryn Howard, who set it up, says: “There are proposals to move services from the PRH to the RSH or possibly the other way round.

“These hospitals between them have a huge catchment area including parts of Wales and must both retain a full range of services, including consultant-led, full scale A&E and maternity and paediatrics.

“In particular Telford has a fast growing population with many young families, areas of deprivation and lower car ownership.”

Shropshire health chiefs have had to go back to the drawing board over their plans because of cash constraints, with proposals to build a hospital on a single site by 2020 at a cost of £400 million, now discounted.

Mathew James, from Shropshire County Primary Care Trust, said: “In light of the current economic downturn, the NHS in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin is reviewing the options for making certain hospital services safer.

“The need for changes in certain specialties to make sure patients get the best care and chance of a full recovery remain, but the review will look at alternative ways of making those improvements, assuming there will be limited capital funds for hospital building work in the short to medium term. The previous options all envisaged significant building schemes.”

Earlier this month community worker Vic Vaughan claimed that services at the Princess Royal could still be at risk when the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust trust achieves NHS Foundation status.

By Russell Roberts