Shrewsbury maternity unit cost demand from MP
Tuesday 22nd February 2011, 11:30AM GMT.
Shrewsbury MP Daniel Kawczynski has written to a Shropshire health boss demanding to see official figures on how much it will cost to refurbish the maternity unit at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.
Mr Kawczynski says he wants answers from Adam Cairns, chief executive of Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, on figures quoted on the cost of improvements.
Mr Cairns claimed at a meeting last week the RSH maternity unit is a “time bomb” and is in such a poor condition the ceiling could fall in at any moment.
In an open letter to staff he said the cost of building a new maternity and paediatric unit at the RSH was likely to be £60 million while the current proposal for inpatient children’s and obstetric services at Telford will cost between £26 million and £28 million.
But Mr Kawczynski said he wanted to know who had provided the quotes for the work and how they had arrived at such figures.
His letter says: “I need an exact figure for how much the work will cost, including the removal of asbestos. I also asked to be given full details of who has provided the independent costings.
A spokesman for the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust said: “We have not yet received the letter from Daniel Kawczynski.”
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May I take this opportunity to advise the readers of the Shropshire Star that I’ve just written a comment in the ‘Leave a Reply’ section. I feel I deserve recognition for having done this.
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I recognise it,and shall be writing to HMQ, would you like an O,M,C or KBE in the New Years Honours for services to debate in Hazard County?
Daniel K, can I suggest you submit a FOI Act enquiry, you know like the ones that were sent in to view MP’s expences and allowances?
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No, I’m afraid I have to decline an honour, that would be too much. Perhaps Daniel would like one instead, he didn’t just write a comment in a ‘Leave a Reply’ section, he went much further and wrote an actual letter to someone and then the newspaper told everyone he’d done it. Yes, an actual letter. Probably on paper, I don’t know the details. Then again, he is paid to be an MP and he probably gets an allowance for stamps and time taken in writing letters. Maybe it’s his job. Hmm, and here’s me not getting paid for writing a comment or phoning the newspaper to let them know I’ve done my job…Come to think of it, I’ll accept your invitation for a KBE.
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Sorry Daniel but the population of Shrewsbury is falling whilst Telford is growing fast. Hospital services need to be centred on TELFORD in future !
P.S Mid-Wales patients should be treated by the Welsh NHS service in Wrexham and Bangor hospitals .
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hi. Shrewsbury hospital treats welsh patients too. We dont have the facilities in wales Wrexham and bangor are too far away. This has been agreement with shrewsbury for many years we pay the same tax and ni as your selves. I agree we should have the facilities in an ideal world but we dont live in an ideal world and we dont have the population these babies and children are our future and this move is their risking lives as the consultants stood up a the meeting on 11th feb and said
Any way taking wales out … looking geographical at the map of shropshire telford is the furtherest point away for most of the shropshire patients
Are you not concerned by this moving that wolverhampton and birmingham are in direct competition and we will lose more facilities to them as expressed as a concern from a dr brice again at 11th feb meeting.
Cancer for children and neo natal services are so well known through out the uk at the shrewsbury site for their sucess rates why risk this
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Office for national statistics shows Shrewsbury population is continuing to increase. But I’m sure your stats are more accurate.
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Adam Cairns is doing a fantastic job and is revolutionising healthcare provision in the county. He’s achieved more in his short time in charge than Tom Taylor managed during his entire reign.
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HSJP were you saying that when Mr Cairns was trying to move the Telford services last year!… I think not!
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Of course not. As long as all services are in Telford then he’s happy. How can anyone support closing the more successful and used unit? Telford protested about their hospital cuts, but it seems the rest of Shropshire are selfish for trying to save theirs.
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It’s not very often you hear compliments from the mouth or fingertips of HSJP, are you secretly in love with him? You can tell me, nobody else is about.
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Does he love Cairns as much as he hates Shrewsbury?
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Oh dear he’s back in demanding mode I see!
While Telford may have the larger local population, Shrewsbury is obviously more centrally located to the county – so there are valid arguments in favour of both locations.
Personally I think the only solution is to temporarily house maternity services at Telford with a promise that they will eventually be permanently located at a point somewhere between?
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Are you suggesting that, in the long term, a new hospital should be built somewhere out in the sticks between Shrewsbury and Telford?
I think the whole idea of such a scheme is a total non-starter.
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I’m sick of the Shrewbury V Telford debate. MP’s and local ‘action’ groups should be campaigning for improved health facilities for all of Shropshire – regardless of whether they will be located in Telford or Shrewsbury. I’m also fed up of reading exagerated Shrewbury sob stories implying people will die if the facilites move to Telford from Shrewsbury.
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So for those families that need open access to the children’s ward because their child needs emergency treatment on a regular basis are milking it? I know a family in this situation. They bought their house near the hospital for this reason. It’s no good going to A&E as they take to long to treat their child and don’t have the same know how. They drive as it’s quicker than an ambulance. I think they do have the right to campaign against this move as their whole lives revolve around getting to hospital.
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Before dismissing these people and referring to their problems as sob stories, maybe you should put yourself in their shoes. If you had a child who needed life saving help from your local hospital all the time wouldn’t you want to save it. also a lot of these families with sick kids live all over Shropshire and extra travelling times are a big worry.
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But the point you are missing is that there are sick kids all over shropshire – how do the kids in Telford currently manage?? Yes, they TRAVEL to Shrewsbury. We need good hospital facilities for all our kids, not just the ones in Shrewsbury.
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Why don’t they use the children’s ward in Telford. There’s one there. They campaigned to save it last year. Families from Shrewsbury to Ludlow are now campaigning to save theirs. Shrewsbury ward covers the largest area and is by far the most used out of the two wards.
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Mikey, this isn’t about the population of Shrewsbury and Telford, it’s about Shropshire and what’s best for the people of Shropshire.
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NHS Wales is the publicly funded healthcare system of Wales for Welsh people.
Responsibility for NHS Wales was passed to the Welsh Assembly and Executive under devolution in 1999.
All Welsh people have access to a Welsh District General Hospital.
Shrewsbury is in England and is part of a hospital trust within NHS England.
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The people from Wales who use Shrewsbury pay their way, they have a right to have a say in this matter.
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I see on another thread http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2011/02/18/shrewsbury-march-against-coalition-cuts/
that a group of doctors from the ‘under threat’ unit at Shrewsbury are backing the move to Telford, I wonder whether these formerly regailed dedicated worldly wise staff will suddenly become persona non grata?
Can’t wait to see what the proShrewsbury will make of this revelation.
A phrase involving feet and pulled carpet come to mind.
Barbara – fence sitter
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Our Daniel’s very demanding isn’t he?
What ever happened to manners, I always tend to find the word ‘please’ works far better than ‘you will’.
Picking up on Barbaras comment I ‘experts’ seem to be wheeled out left, right and centre along with celeb signatories by all sorts and they offer no benefits other than a photo opportunity, an autograph and perhaps becoming a friend on Facebook.
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Information concerning ‘under threat unit’ doctors backing the proposals to move paediatric services to telford is not correct. All paediatric & neo-natal consultants at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital have written and signed a letter confirming they DO NOT support the proposals to move services to Telford. They do not support separating childrens services from acute surgery. The doctors you refer to as supporting the proposals are certainly not those involved in the paediatric profession at the RSH. The paediatricians have written confirming that they would have serious concern for some of their patients if these proposals go ahead. There will of course be support from some clinicians for the proposals – but not the paediatricians dealing with children and babies at the RSH. Everyone should also consider that the parents of the children who have 24 hour open access on to the children’s ward due to their childs medical condition (most of which are lifelong conditions – every day, of every week, of every month, of every year! – have more important day to day concerns than having to try to save their services or telling their ‘sob stories’ just for the fun of it! They do it because they are desperately trying to ensure that their children are provided with the vital access to services that they need. Maybe the next time anyone reads a so call ‘sob story’ they should just be a little aware that maybe the parent is simply trying to highlight how they have to live with certain challenging conditions that some people are utterly oblivious too and seemingly most unsympathetic of. All of Shropshire and Mid Wales are trying to secure the best possible services for their babies and children in the best possible location for all – neither telford nor shrewsbury populations being any more important than the rest of Shropshire or Mid Wales. Am very saddened that some people have such little empathy for others.
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I am sure there is empathy out here in the non-cyber world, but just because somebody doesn’t appear to toe-the-line should their views be ignored?
Often decisions are taken out of the arena so as not to take any undue influence from interested parties, perhaps that should be or is happening in this case, I don’t know.
I know one thing, whatever choice is made 50% of the people will be happy with the decision, 50% not. It may come down to an economic choice care of the state the last administration left us in, and I sense that if that is the case there will only be one choice.
Another point, why was the RSH allowed to get into such a poor state considering all the money we were led to believe was being pumped into the NHS? Perhaps it was going to pay for staff rather than the infrastructure.
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Have you been in the matertinty unit in RSH lately, it is falling apart and very cramped. Telford is much newer and better equipped they just need the staff. This would then enable Shrewsbury to concentrate in other areas. A work load shared. I lived in Newtown for many years and Shrewsbury was the nearest however when ever I needed an OP I was sent to Telford. I have been in the maternity unit in both Shrewsbury, and Telford once as Shrewsbury was full and I sure prefered Telford it was a much better experience. This was not to do with staff but the fact I had more room and it felt fresher which helped me relax. There is also the room at Telford to expand the dept if needed which there is not at RSH.
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That’s not true, there isn’t the room to expand as much as is needed. It’s been one of the main concerns about this move, how will they cope with all the extra paitents. Also if you live as far out as Newtown what happens in an emergency, say your child isn’t breathing? I would be terrified about travelling that extra distance or going to a hospital without paediatric staff.
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i have premature babies who need neonatal care and ive had 3 of my children at shrewsbury and ive had bad experiences each time, but unfortunatley i cant go anywhere else, im dreading havin to go back into that hospital especially now with the roof about to cave in at any time!! shocking
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