Rallying call to save Royal British Legion clubs
- Today's leader
MP Kawczynski urges ‘aggressive’ fight for RSH services
Monday 31st January 2011, 11:07AM GMT.
Campaigners fighting to save women and children’s services at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital should be more “aggressive” and “militant” if they want their appeals to be successful.
Daniel Kawczynski, MP for Shrewsbury, said people should take part in public demonstrations, sign petitions and lobby local councillors and health officials over plans to downgrade the RSH services.
He made the claim at a public meeting attended by about 70 people at the Grange School in Shrewsbury yesterday over plans to relocate services to Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital.
He told the meeting that Shrewsbury continues to lose out to Telford in terms of services and that he had been inundated with calls, e-mails and letters from concerned constituents.
He said he plans to raise the matter at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday. Campaigners say proposals will have a devastating impact on county and mid Wales residents.
Speaking at the meeting, Mr Kawczynski said: “People need to be more aggressive and militant in challenging these proposals.
“These proposals are further evidence of Shrewsbury losing out to Telford which is very frustrating.
“I would encourage people to take part in demonstrations, fill out petitions, contact the trust and lobby their local councillors.
“If you challenge all of the proposals it is not very realistic. What you must do is focus on the most important aspects of these proposals.”
Shropshire councillor Jon Tandy raised fears that the PRH wouldn’t be able to cope with the move.
He said: “I was surprised how small Telford hospital was. It wasn’t built to be a major hospital and there isn’t the space to build on to it.
“I fear these changes will have a big impact on parents. Parents want to be with their children if they are in hospital and think of the extra distance they are going to have to travel.”
Two groups called “Save Children’s Services” and “Save Shrewsbury’s Neonatal Unit” have been set up on Facebook opposing the plans.
Alison Davies-Friend, who is helping to spearhead the campaign, said more than 4,000 people have signed a petition to save the services at the RSH.
By James Pugh
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Can we have a transcript of what he actually said ?
I ask this before I understand whether I should be aghast, amused or in full agreement. At the moment I’m trying to get my head around the implications of an MP promoting ‘agressive’ & ‘militant’ behaviour.
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Not to mention that Kawczynski is a member of a political party that have recently threatened to legislate against striking Trade Unionists – presumably for being ‘aggressive and Militant’ ?
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If he really cared, he’d be urging people to fight for our NHS services in general, rather than supprtoing the current plans to divert a significant amount of NHS budget into the pockets of private sector profiteers.
Only this morning his boss Cameron was saying that NHS hospitals would close if the private sector were ‘more successful’than they were.
Does no-one else see the danger in this? Why wouldn’t the private sector decide to invest in a short-term loss in order to undermine and destroy the NHS competition, and thus create a monopoly in which they could significantly increase their charges later to recoup their losses and more?
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It is an equal disgrace that either Telford or Shrewsbury should lose services, you’ve got no more of an argument over there than we have over in here
Fact of the matter, there is no money for duplicate services so instead of getting all militant (where’s Citizen Smith when you need him?) we should be trying to work out which services are most essential to each site so there is only a partial loss at either site.
What, do you think petitions and marches are going to magically create a money pot to save the day?
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No demo’s and petitions will not create money, but may stop these services being lost form the centralised area for Shropshire and Mid -Wales. How much does a child’s life cost? How much will a lawsuit cost once these changes have been made? Under the proposals, if an accident occurs, the adult would be in Shrewsbury, the child in Telford for care! There will only be one Acute Surgery and one Mid-Wifery/Children’s centre as there only enough doctors to serve one site. Surely those services should be in the centre of the area that they serve. The trust talks about a hub and spoke service, but want to put the hub near the edge of the wheel.
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Whilst you all sign the petition just have a thought about those women that have to travel from Telford, Bridgnorth and surrounds area’s to RSH. Think about the other side of the coin.
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Think about those that already travel from Welshpool, Newtown and Oswestry.
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Welshpool & Newtown are both in Wales and not in Shropshire. Any arguments the people of Mid Wales should have is not with the Shrewsbury & Telford Hospital Trust but with their own elected assembly in Cardiff.
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Any patient from Wales treated in Shropshire is paid for by the Welsh assembly therefore bringing much needed funds into Shropshires Hospital coffers, take the Welsh out of the equation and we will all be traveling to the central midlands and beyond.
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We are but we also think of those from Welshpool, Newtown an Oswestry, who have even further to travel.
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ir how about the people of newport that would have to travel to shrews, your argument is redundant anyway as the two mid wales towns should be arguing for their own hospital rather leaching of shropshire
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Oh I do feel for you… all the way from Telford to Shrewsbury down the nice straight bypass…..!!
Just spare a thought for those of us who currently face a 32 mile journey on rural windy roads whilst in excruciating labour with a distressed baby due to be born any moment who could soon face a 48 mile journey. Also those facing a 48 mile journey to stay with a sick child then 48 miles home again to be with their family. Surely you can see why people are signing the petition?
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sounds like the journey people from newport would have to make to shrewsbury and to think, they actually contribute to the upkeep of the hospital
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‘Shropshire Wolf’ I think you need to get your facts straight and realise that the Powys Local health board pay hundreds of thousands to the Shropshire trust for our medical needs at the RSH and have done so for years so I think we have every right to have our say. You would do well to do some research …..
As for having out own local general hospital we have been fighting for this for over 30 years…..
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Its a shame that Mr Kawzynski doesn’t feel as strongly about the Grange Centre for disabled adults which is being closed after 25 years.
The service users are devatstated and have appealed to their MP to help them.
He has been and visited them and they are relying on this crucial service. Why does he seemingly not care about them? very disappointing.
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“MP Kawczynski urges ‘aggressive’ fight for RSH services”.
‘Urges’? Has he stopped being ‘Demanding’ Dan nowadays?
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When oh when will these people realise that it’s either first class services at Telford or third class services at both sites and trekking all the way into Stafford, Stoke or Wolverhampton for anything that’s even slightly complicated?
They are being offered a BETTER service – they will just have to travel a few miles further to get it. In the same way many Telford residents have to travel to Shrewsbury for the services focused there.
And the basic services will still be available at RSH anyway!
And of course our local poiticians are just jumping on bandwaggons – anything for a bit of media coverage. Vanity, all is vanity.
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Why is it that the Chairman of the Trust says it is Children’s services in Telford that are in trouble if the services are so great. When on when will some people in Telford wake up to the fact that this affects much further afield than Telford and Shrewsbury and that the figures in the proposals already show more people visit a centralised Shrewsbury for Shropshire and Mid-Wales than Telford. I also recall all Telford’s MP’s 15 months ago doing the same. Was that also vanity?
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Bill
1.I see no proof that the people from the west,south & north of the county or those from Mid Wales are been offered a better service.
2. To the uninitiated the Telford road system from the main trunk road to the PRH is a nightmare.Having recently visited on several occasions I felt I was taking my life in my hands and I am an experienced driver
3. Combining services at Telford will involve more visitors at Telford and more staff, where are they supposed to park? its impossible now.
4.The people of Telford have quite a few options of hospitals to the eastern side if they dont wish to travel west to Shrewsbury, the people in the west havnt that option!
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I would like to see ‘daniel’s’ proof that Telford has more services than Shrewsbury , I thought it was the other way around ! .
The last time I visited some one at Telford the head consultant was based in Shrewsbury and only visited Telford once a week .
One of shrewsburys concerns is the added travling times but what about the fact that people in Telford already have to travel to Shrewsbury as the major womans and children services are at Shrewsbury
I have one idea – sell Shrewsbury and Telford hospitals and build a new one between telford and Shrewsbury
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you are totally forgetting the rest of the county that use the services! There’s a lot more people in Shropshire than just those in Telford and Shrewsbury, the majority of these would have to travel past the current site in Shrewsbury on their way to the proposed site in Telford as the decent roads all head in and out of Shrewsbury not Telford. Those on the east of the county do have options of other hospitals in other county’s, those in the west don’t, as shown by the large number of mid wales people that use the current services…
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What we also need to realise is that RHS serves mid wales and as such an expectant mothers journey from Newtown to Shrewsbury may well take an hour now will, if Maternity and Pediatrics are transferred to Telford, take up to an hour and a half. The plan is not just to trade services between Shrewsbury and Telford but vastly increase the distance many will have to travel.
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Services should be concentrated at the location of the population concentration, i.e. Telford.
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Population of Mid-Wales is 230K, Shrewsbury 75K, Telford 180K. Centralisation should take place on population somewhere on the Welsh border.
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Why don’t you build a hospital for yourselves in Wales? You don’t pay for prescriptions and steal our services. You wanted devolution – you got it. Get onto your government about your lack of facilities.
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Hospital nearer to mid wales ! got to give it to the Welsh, they get their own government paid for by the English tax payer, free presciptions ect. Now they want a say in how Shrewsbury & Telford Hospital Trust run the counties health care. Shropshire is still in England isnt it ?
If the people of Mid Wales want a hospital near them, then i suggest they petition their Welsh assembly and not stick their noses into matters that effect Shropshire.
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I live in Wales. I don’t want a separate government. It costs too much money and is a waste of time. I don’t steal services. I pay British Income Tax.
Don’t tell me what I can say or not say.
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what about the population of the rest of shropshire?? There’s more to the county than just Shrewsbury
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Those people who naively think that residents of Wales “steal” hospital services should familiarise themselves with how services are provided. You will then find that the services are purchased.
Of course it could also just be trolling!
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Well Dave you are a little ignorant of the facts are you not? It is BRITISH tax that pays for the Assembly and the last time I consulted a map Wales was part of Britian. After 26 years in BRITAINS armed forces I consider I am more than entitled to call myself BRITISH as well as Welsh and as it happens I live on the English side of the border and many English people live on the Welsh side and if you dont happen to realise it there are probably thousands of people along the borders whose families are both Welsh and English and live on both sides of the border and we happen to care about both communities.
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So forget about the thousands of people that live across the rest of Shropshire? What a very selfish attitude you have. The only fair way to do this is to put these services in the most central position.
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I think you’ll find that a couple of people in Wales and out in the hills are the ones who are being very selfish.
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Peasbody, are you for really? What a rude person you are. You are honestly happy to put so many lives at risk? A mother and her unborn child from Ludlow doesn’t count if she needs emergency treatment? Because a family lives in the countryside, do they not have the same rights as those in Telford? You make no sense and come across as horribly selfish.
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Peasbody is just a wind up merchant with silly responses just to get people going that is all.
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Not on this issue, Mike.
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are you from telford by any chance, its a case of we’re alright jack and sod anyone else. midwales has always used shrewsbury hospital, even before the welsh assembly existed and like shropshire were governed from london, because its the nearest.how would you feel if telford was closed and you were told to take your sick child to wrexham.In my view both hospital s should stay open.
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The PRH has been threatened with closure and downgrading for years despite it being in a town with over 150,000 residents! And every time the spectre of closure reared its head, people in east Shropshire encountered the “I’m all right Jack” attitude from the rest of the county.
It’s interesting now that the shoe is on the other foot….at last.
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The local NHS is apparently keen to hear your views on proposals to change the way some services are arranged between the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and the Princess Royal Hospital at Telford.
They want to hear your views about these proposals and the questionnaire is here:
http://www.shropshire.nhs.uk/Documents/surveys/Reconfiguration%20of%20Hospital%20Services/reconfiguration_of_hospital_services.htm
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When will people realise that if nothing changes we won’t have any services anywhere near and it will be long journey to Wolverhampton or Stafford and even as far as Birmingham for more specialist services.
These changes are needed for the better. Shrewsbury will be getting a better surgical department in the long term but do you see the people of telford moaning that they will have to travel to Shrewsbury for surgey.
Things need to change for the better and if there was any other way of securing the two hospitals future i am sure they would have come up with it. For many years managers have put ideas forward for them to be thrawted by the public who do not realise they are in danger of losing both hospitals if nothing is done. Are you all willing to risk not having hospitals at all.
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People of Telford fought to save their hospital 18 months ago, now the people of Telford are moaning because the people of Shropshire and Mid-Wales want to save vital services centrally. If Neo-natal and Cancer services for children move east, they will go to New Cross and BCH respectively. How is that keeping it in the county?
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I do not live in Telford and in fact live in Shrewsbury so i shud be one of the many people moaning that the services are leaving. I to have had a child who has needed the care of the children services both at birth and after. The staff are amazingly caring and do a fantastic job but they deserve a facility that matches this. at the moment they have a downtroden old fashioned building that is now that badly in dissary cannot be repaired. If the centre has to move to give them the facillities then so be it. I am sure if things do not change within the trust and the hospitals don’t stop this RSH v PRH thing the county will lose both hospitals to wolverhampton and stafford in 2014. That is 3 years time and the possibility of the county having non of the services is a real possibility.
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Very true, some services may indeed be lost. However, the figures for costs of works are not based on real plans. Under the FOI Act, the trust states it has no firm plans or business case. The unit in Shrewsbury does need refurbishment and expansion, but expansion in Telford would also be required. neonatal will go to wolverhampton if moved to Telford.
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After having read the full proposal I am seeing some very strange ideas being put forward. My Partner and unborn child were rushed from Ludlow Maternity unit to Shrewsbury last year when they got into problems late in labour. The extra 9 miles they would have had to travel to Telford would probably have meant that our son would have been born with brain damage or maybe not have survived. I think the people who have made these proposals will be rubbing their hands together with glee now they seem to have forced a division between Shrewsbury and Telford. Remember the old saying ”Divide and conquer” We all need the facility’s we now have and any way we are forced to accept the plan that has been proposed there will be losers and losers. What we are facing is being railroaded to accept cuts in our services no matter how they dress it up. Please read the full proposal being pushed on us, there is a lot of window dressing and very little fact or substance being presented.
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I think it is worth highlighting the contrast in possible admissions at the two sites. Adding all the current admissions to the Telford Hospital for the year 2009-2010 including children and maternity cases – comprising 17111 medical emergencies, 496 births, 3330 surgical cases, 3081 elective admissions and 3481 children – make a total of 27499 admissions.
Similar figures for Shrewsbury DGH for the same period – amount to 22679 medical emergencies, 1455 + 454 births, 4107 surgical cases, 5438 elective admissions and 3972 children – makes a total of 40511 admissions.
If Telford Hospital continued to admit medical emergencies and accept all elective surgical cases, and its midwives managed births, the total would be 26126. If all children, all emergencies and consultant-led maternity admissions were admitted to the Shrewsbury DGH, the total would be 41884.
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Would it not make sense to put these services in the middle. That would be shrewssbury. Why is it being moved out of the way to Telford. It’s unfortunate that people from Telford have to travel, but it’s deeply unfair to make those from places like Bishops castle, Wem, Ellesmere, Ludlow or Oswestry travel such a long way.
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Why should any one have to travel!
Its called Telford & Shrewsbury NHS Trust, they should be working together not fighting, keep the services as they are now at both.. Simples…..
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In addition it appears rather insular to consider a matter such as this without having the opportunity of considering all aspects of the case – which Paediatric & Obstetric Consultants oppose this set of changes; how will the current “hub and spoke” Consultant Maternity Service work when the “hub” is moved to the far east of its geographical profile; how will these Services actually work operationally; how is the capital investment being funded; why is the capital investment differential so extreme between PRH (£30million) and RSH (£60million); is there really a chance of Childrens and Consultant Maternity Services leaving Shropshire as is being threatened; how will the transport links be established to ensure necessary access; has the potential loss of income from the South, North and West of the County (as well as Mid Wales) been risk assesed; how many hundreds of satff will move from RSH to PRH and from PRH to RSH and have they been fully involved and appreciate the impact on themselves.
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Well said Martyn. In the proposals they talk about a dedicated special Ambulance for emergency Labour transfers. What are the costing’s of that being on 24 hour standby and needing 3 shifts of doctors, nurses and drivers/paramedics to man it?
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In addition it appears rather insular to consider a matter such as this without having the opportunity of considering all aspects of the case – which Paediatric & Obstetric Consultants oppose this set of changes; how will the current “hub and spoke” Consultant Maternity Service work when the “hub” is moved to the far east of its geographical profile; how will these Services actually work operationally; how is the capital investment being funded; why is the capital investment differential so extreme between PRH
(£30million) and RSH (£60million); is there really a chance of Childrens and Consultant Maternity Services leaving Shropshire as is being threatened; how will the transport links be established to ensure necessary access; has the potential loss of income from the South, North and West of the County (as well as Mid Wales) been risk assesed; how many hundreds of satff will move from RSH to PRH and from PRH to RSH and have they been fully involved and appreciate the impact on themselves.
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why doesnt he put his substantial frame to good use and go and chin george osbourne then?
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Have a missed something but i am sure if the trust suddenely announced it was spending 60million on a new unit there would be public outcry on what else it wasn’t spending the money on and that it was too much and how it could be done cheaper.
Correct me if i am wrong but doesnt the government of this country give the welsh assembly its own money to sort there part out. The welsh people have hardly any services unless you live near one of the city’s. Maybe the assembly should concentrate on giving the welsh their own hospitals with the facilities and we wouldn’t even be having this argument. Instead they choose to spend the money on free prescriptions free parking and free higher education. Why won’t the welsh assembly give the people of wales Decent hospitals with the services required for them to access.
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The Welsh element is very relevant but not the only part of this argument. The Welsh do pay for the services they receive in England as far as I am aware, so they have a strong right to be heard here. Let me assure you even if the Welsh did have their own convenient hospital for treatment this argument would still be going on. Shropshire is a very wide spread rural county and the extra distance between Shropshire to Telford would cause immense problems for a great deal of the county’s population.
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if the Welsh residents that get treated at the RSH have it funded by the Welsh then surely it’s in the financial interest of the Shropshire NHS to keep these people coming over the border rather than trying to ignore their interests in this argument? Shrewsbury’s a central site, moving the services has just not been thought through in the most practical “customer focused” way.
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Actually you will also find that if the Welsh Health service were to stop purchasing services from Shrewsbury and Telford, then your hospitals will be closing a lot quicker than you think.
All hospitals require certain numbers of patients to make them viable in terms of the number of cases doctors see whilst training and for existing trained doctors to remain competent. Remove some of these and it no longer remains viable for those services to be provided at that hospital and they have to be moved elsewhere. So those who bizarrely argue about the Welsh residents accessing services should really think about what they wish for!
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Why are so many comments about shrewbury people or Telford patients? There’s more to Shropshire than just these two towns. Keep these services in a location that’s fair to all the families of Shropshire and it’s not fair to exclude those in mid Wales that also use these services. it’s so easy to get to Shrewsbury hospital from the A5, can’t say the same about Telford hospital. There’s also not nearly enough parking at the Telford site.
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‘can’t say the same about Telford hospital.’
Eh? Follow the A5/M54 to the Wellington junction then turn left and go straight on until you get to the hospital. Couldn’t be easier. There are even big signposts!
As for the concerns about the people of Wales, I thought they had their own control of their NHS budgets – why is Daniel bending over backwards to help them out? – It’s not even as if they can vote for him!
But most here are missing the real point.
We shouldn’t be cutting services at either hospital – all of this is being done to protect the wealthy – we should be chasing the massive amounts of tax that go unpaid every year by large companies and super-wealthy individuals – then there would be more than enough to fund our soon-to-be privatised NHS.
Perhaps if our current Chancellor set an example and paid the full amount in inheritance tax on the fortune he will inherit it would be a good start? Instead it seems he is likely to avoid this using one of the many tax loopholes provided for the rich, but essentially unavailable to the rest of us.
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Peter.To get to Shrewsbury Hospital from Telford turn right off the main Shrewsbury bypass (A5 trunk road) half a mile straight onto the Hospital car park-plenty of parking space. To get to Telford hospital from the west turn left off the M54 and for the next 2 miles take your life in your hands dodging locals who look upon roundabouts not as a give way but as a race to see who can get on it first. God forbid that any stranger should slow down looking for directions and if you get in the wrong lane because you miss the poor direction, thats it! Your off in the wrong direction until you get to another roundabout to turn around. Once you get to the PRH pretty wound up from a poor traveling experience you then spend ages looking for a parking space so instead of allowing an extra 20min to get to Telford 40 is nearer the mark. As for getting out of the hospital on to the main road wacky races comes to mind. Hospital is stressful enough wether you are day patient or visitor/escort getting to the PRH if you are not used to the area or road system just adds to that stress, to the uninitiated it is a nightmare!
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Elwyn,
Perhaps you’re just not a very good driver?
The route from the M54 is dead straight – 4 traffic islands – all with clear lane markings and clear signposting – one of them even with traffic lights to decide for you when you can go!
The road has a 40mph or lower speed limit for its entire length.
The only way to get lost is to ignore the lane markings and put yourself in the wrong lane.
Do you have an irrational fear of traffic islands? Perhaps the street lights are confusing you?
If you are really so intimidated by such a simple journey, I worry that you’re on the road at all!
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Peter, you spoke about ‘massive amounts of tax that go unpaid every year by large companies and super-wealthy individuals’.
What do you think of the 0.05% Tobin Tax (or Robin Hood Tax) on international currency speculators, which seems to be gaining ground with EU governments?
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Huw,
I don’t have a big problem with the idea – but we already have the legislation to collect the massive amount of tax that is evaded by the wealthy.
What we don’t have is a government that is prepared to invest in the specialist resource that is needed to pursue and collect these taxes.
Instead they’d prefer to have us believe that the only parasites in our society are people who fiddle their benefits.
I wonder why the government would seek to allow the wealthy to get away with this? I think the answer to that might be found on the playing fields of Eton – don’t you?
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Perhaps you’re right, Peter.
UK Customs and Revenue staff have been cut massively by this government, despite the fact that most people who want excellent public services can see their value to all the rest of us.
But if you are looking at ‘tax evaded by the wealthy’ I would argue that it’s best not to ignore the unimaginably massive amounts of untaxed cash swirling around the international currency markets and being deposited in the world’s expanding tax havens.
I am currently reading a book by a financial journalist called Nicholas Shaxson about the complicity of politicians in building up these tax havens.
An interesting read for people who resent having to pay 20% VAT every day, while their services are cut and the perception spreads that we are not ‘all in it together’.
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Peter with reference to your comments on my driving ability, 40 years driving, no accidents, no speeding fines or points, many years driving on the continent. Some time spent as staff driver & defensive driving course taken. I repeat drivers who treat roundabouts as a racing challenge and not as give ways and poor signposting, the measure of a signpost is how easy is it for a stranger to see not for a local who knows where it is. By the way at the moment I need to be driven to the hospital by a learner driver who is competent but not allowed on the motorway how well is that journey posted from Shrewsbury? By the way speed is relative and 40mph aproaching a roundabout just to make sure you can get a place in front of someone aproaching from your right is too fast!
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Moving women and childrens services to Telford is a terrible idea. I haven’t heard one decent reason why this should happen yet.
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I know. Normally it’s Women and Children first. You know, give them priority getting them *far away* from a scene of disaster as possible, like in the Titanic.
But in this case, they seem to be prioritising moving them *towards* Telford!
Ba-dum Tish!
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Jane,
Possibly because the age demographic of the two towns indicates that the younger population lives to the East of the county.
I accept that there may also be demand from Wales, but isn’t this debate primarily about hospitals for Shropshire?
That being said, see my eerlier comments about none of these cuts being necessary if only the wealthy were made to pay the same proportion of their income in tax as the rest of us do.
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This is what the Conservative Party election manifesto 2010 says:
‘We will stop the centrally dictated closure of A&E and maternity wards.’
Surely, rather than attacking Telford people who understandably want good maternity services for their large population, we should be more “aggressive” and “militant” in ensuring that Andrew Lansley sticks by his party’s manifesto promises.
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Oh Huw,
Funny you should mention a manifesto, lets mention those lovey big posters during the election, “i’ll cut the deficit not the NHS springs to mind”
Seems we have been well and truely hoodwinked, for every promise they made they have probably broken 3.
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Here are some other manifesto promises:
‘We will guarantee that health spending increases in real terms in each year of the Parliament, while recognising the impact this decision will have on other departments.’
(Everyone I know who works in the sector says that they are being asked to make big cuts.)
‘We will put patients in charge of making decisions about their care.’
(Including how many miles they have to drive/take public transport while in labour, Mr Lansley?)
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Cameeron this morning “we have to and will listen to local people – if people don’t like then it won’t happen?
Well perhaps he didn’t quite say that but it’s what he implied. But how are people to say what they want? How do they make themselves heard? Who’s to represent their voice?
Fortunately here in Shropshire we have the Shropshire LINk – a government funded organisation set up to make sure that people’s opinions about social and health care issues are heard
So they’re up there fighting our corner, right?
WRONG ! what are they doing about it? Nothing ! Absolutely nothing. Go to their website http://www.cinch.org.uk and you would not know that there is anything happening. Not even a mention of the consultation.
Telford and Wrekin has a LINk too (all local authorities have one ) And what are they doing about it? Go to their website
http://www.telfordandwrekinlink.org.uk
They tell you about the consultation. They encourage you to respond to it. They are organising a public meeting with their two MPs.
The Shropshire LINk calls itself Community Involvement in Care and Heath (CINCH) . So where is the community involvement in this the most important issue facing Shropshire NHS?. In fact where is involvement in any of the health and care problems facing Shropshire folk?
Look at their website. What do they do? What have they done?
Again look at Telford. There are hot links to consultations about other subjects. There is informatiom.
Did you know that the Shropshire LINk existed to find out what you thought and wanted.
Is there a connection between Shropshire LINks supine response and the fact that Shropshire is being short changed ?
Shropshire people need a proper LINk – like Telford’s. Call them what you think of them 01743 343 223
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What the people arguing for keeping facilities in RSH don’t mention is that all elective abdominal and vascular surgery will be done in RSH and RSH will become the centre for major trauma, I don’t hear much whinging from Telford about that. It really does seem that the people backing RSH want EVERYTHING in RSH and stuff PRH. The demographics of Shropshire actually put the centre of population more towards Telford, there are a lot of people in Shropshire who live closer to Telford, such as Market Drayton, Bridgnorth, Shifnal, Albrighton, Much Wenlock, Highley. But following the argument of centralising all services to it’s conclusion, if we centrlised everyhing in England and Wales using the rectangular every major service would be centred near Market Drayton (Hurray for Drayton!!)
If you look through the FULL proposal it explains why they are changing things this way. The argument is this, the ‘Jack of all trades’/district general hospital is a thing of the past. The specialities of medicine and working rules require doctors specialising in a discipline to concentrate their staffing in in centres of excellence. This provides better care for patients (read a few articles in BMJ and you’ll find lots of proof not just speculation). In order to maintain services such as ITUs and 24hr emergency operating theatres a hospital must have a concentration of staff ie it must be a centre of excellence for something. Following on from that, if a hospital cannot maintain ITUs/24 hr emergency operating theatres it will lose other facilities as it is no longer safe, the biggest one being a functioning A and E!!! So ultimately, if the good people insisting on hoarding everything at RSH get their way it could sound the end for PRH. At the end of the day you are going to have to play nice and SHARE.
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I think Peasbody is bordering on racism with his utterly stupid remarks,get a life man !!!
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