Shrewsbury and Telford hospital plan will risk lives – midwife
Thursday 24th February 2011, 11:29AM GMT.
Babies and mothers from Mid Wales could die in ambulances on the way to Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital if a planned shake-up by NHS bosses goes ahead, a senior midwife has claimed.
More than 200 people packed into a public meeting in Welshpool last night as part of the consultation by the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust over proposed changes which would see children’s and women’s services moved to Telford.
Claims by trust bosses that the maternity unit in Shrewsbury is “operationally unsound” were met by calls from the public to rebuild the unit or move it into the main hospital building.
The meeting at the Royal Oak Hotel heard from Helen Roberts, head of midwifery at the Welshpool maternity unit, who said she had grave fears about the longer journey Mid Wales mums would be forced to make if services were transferred to Telford.
She said: “We have a very high home birth rate here and we hope to keep it that way.
“An ambulance transfer from Welshpool to Shrewsbury takes about 20 to 25 minutes which, when it is an emergency for mum and baby, is a journey none of us like to take.
“If we face another 20 minutes down the road I could have a dead baby or, in the case of a bleed, a dead mum and a dead baby on the way to Telford.”
Politicians from all parties joined forces the meeting to call for a better deal for hospital patients from Mid Wales.
There was also an emotional plea for children’s services to remain in Shrewsbury from Welshpool mum, Jenny Robinson Harding, whose daughter died of a cot death in 2007.
“I lost my child and I can tell you the journey to Shrewsbury is very long when your child is dead.
“Can you live with yourself when a child dies on the M54,” she said.
But Cathy Smith, head of midwifery for the trust, said while extra miles could increase risk, there were mothers in Mid Wales facing longer journeys already.
Trust chief executive Adam Cairns said the fear was the trust would lose many of its specialist services and patients would have to travel even further.
But he said it was now hoped to have a 24-hour children’s assessment unit at Shrewsbury.
By Sue Austin
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Surely those mothers should go to Welsh hospitals.I dont get free prescriptions in England and i have to pay university fee’s[all free in wales] so why are you even bothering to consult someone over the border.People in the Bridgnorth district have to travel to Shrewsbury now if the birth is difficult, so everyone will have some sort of problem wherevever they live.If the Welsh are not happy build your own.
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Well, WHICHEVER hospital is closest to you, I sincerely hope they are able to operate on you, pasco999.
That’s the operation to remove that giant chip on your shoulder.
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No chip at all Jeepers just common sense. You are obviously happy to let all and sundry moan about wanting all their own services in one place eg. their own doorstep.We are all making sacrifices in these times and if you read last nights star you will see a lot af Cosultants are for the move.oh and by the way it makes no odds to me because wherever it goes i will still have an hours travel.
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Firstly it seems the consultants for the move have nothing to do with women and children’s services, but those that do work in this department are completely against it. Why Would anyone from Bridgenorth come to Shrewsbury, Wolverhampton is so much closer. And lastly the welsh pay for their treatment in Shrewsbury so do have a say in this.
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Ah, but you’re shifting slightly from what you were saying in your first post, aren’t you? In that one, you were primarily whinging about people from Wales being involved in the equation!
The Welsh Assembly and Powys Health Trust PAY for services received by Welsh patients in English hospitals and it’s not a small sum. People who live in Powys are *entitled* to use RSH (for instance). It’s not like Welsh people are using the services for ‘free’ while you are paying for them.
And it’s got nothing to do with whether you have to pay for your prescriptions while Welsh people don’t, or whether you pay university fees or not.
So like I said, get the chip off your shoulder, stop moaning and stop trying to dodge your original pathetic argument.
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Not a pathetic argument at all. You are obviously from across the border Jeepers, if the Welsh assembly do pay, and they are not happy with the move like i said build your own.As for a chip you are very wrong i am just giving my opinion.As for M’s response Bridgnorth is in Shropshire so comes under the Shropshire’s trust so why should women travel from Bridgnorth to Wolverhampton.It strikes me the whingers in this argument want the services on their doorstep.By the way a supporter of the move Consultant Mr Andrew Tapp is a Gynaecologist if my Biology is correct is that not in the Ladies department.
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Pasco999, a few points that you should be aware of… Mr Cairns told the Oswestry meeting that if they needed any paediatric care they could always go to Wrexham, so cross border use of services is being pushed in one argument but dismissed in an other!!! humm!
Next, Mr Tapp also has said he was behind the move, but had grave renovations about some points… but would like to see alternatives put forward!
Next, all the Consultants who are behind this are either based in Telford or if they are in RSH, are not effected by the proposals!!! The RSH paediatric consultants have said they are not in favour of this move..
So in the main most of your points are not valid, but I hope being educated in the facts makes you see that this move is not the right thing to happen.
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The Welsh Assembly Government DO pay, and the income to the hospital trust in Shropshire is considerable.
And no, I’m not from ‘across the border’ as you put it – I can just see that there is a complex issue here. I wouldn’t like to be one of those having to decide what goes where. At the moment, the overriding factors seem to be financial, as opposed to clinical.
Sometimes, giving the public a say in thses things can be quite damaging if too many have opinions like yours, ie: “Its nothing to do with the Welsh – why should they have free prescriptions and university while I pay?”. Of course its a pathetic ‘chip on your shoulder’ argument that you have there!
I don’t know what the ’999′ in your name alludes to. But I bet if you’re in any way involved in the emergency services it’s not the Ambulance Service because I can tell you that no member of ambulance staff in either England or Wales would come out with the stuff you’re coming out with. You haven’t even researched your arguments very well, have you?
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Getting bored now Jeepers with your one sided argument you obviously want to keep all the services in Shrewsbury. So i am off now to fry that big chip on my shoulder.Oh and i was a member of the emergency services once and Shrewsbury were always looked on as the elite of the service until we got a Chief from down south and he treated all the county the same.
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No, I am *not* saying I “want to keep all services at Shrewsbury”!
I took issue with your original post where you dismiss anyone else’s opinion except yours. Specifically, no one should take any notice of the Welsh because they get ‘free’ services….and you don’t. And you keep dodging that, don’t you?
I think we’ve all got your measure from what you said in your first post. The first three letters of your pseudonym wouldn’t happen to correspond with the first three letters of your real surname, would they by any chance?
Anyway that’s all I’ve got to say; the chip on your shoulder gets bigger with each posting.
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Yours comments are offensive and ill conceived are you a member of the EBF or just biased?
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Let’s hope they actually listen for once.
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These cuts must not be allowed to go ahead,you can’t put a price on a childs life!
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I would have loved to be able to give birth in my local hospital TELFORD but was unable to as the consultant support was not there so I had no say in where I gave birth. I had to travel to Shrewsbury back and forth rush hour or not. I think that this move should be wlecomed and seen as things moving forward that everyone including those on the board to be able to make a choice in where you have your child. And for those that have poorly children should be able to the treatment required at the there local hospital. Why should people ( no matter where you live Telford Shrewsbury on the Welsh board) have to travel silly miles to get treatment. Why cant the GOV see that we need to provide support to all in our local hospitals to be able to allow them to provide the correct level of treatment required in any area.
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It is just over 20 miles from Bridgnorth to Shrewsbury, yet only just over 12 miles from Bridgnorth to Telford. And only 14 miles from Bridgnorth to Wolverhampton.
So why are people from Bridgnorth sent to Shrewsbury?
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If you do not have a straight forward pregnancy you are sent to Shrewsbury to delivery as they have the ablity to provide any additional care if needed before during or after. I dont see why this can not in some way be given to all hospitals.
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It is clear that children further from Telford than they are from Shrewsbury may be disadvantaged – and a tiny number may indeed come to harm
but
that has to be balanced against
a) the benefit to children living nearer Telford than Shrewsbury (ie most children in Shropshire & Powys) some of whom will be saved from harm
b) the benefit to all of better quality services on a single paediatric site
c) the benefit to all of better quality services for adults on a single site
d) the beenfit to all the sickest children who will have a reduced transfer time to Birmingham from Telford, and so be at reduced risk
It is clear that some services need to be based in Telford, and some in Shrewsbury – the demographics of the area clearly favour paediatrics in Telford, and geriatrics in Shrewsbury
Anybody who seriously objects to the proposed split needs to suggest a better alternative that meets the needs of the population as a whole – and nobody has yet.
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Do you have any idea how many children there are across the rest of Shropshire and that come from Wales? Oh and the dangers of having children’s services on one site and abdominal surgery on another?
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You have got things the wrong way round. There are more children living nearer to Shrewsbury than to Telford as Shrewsbury is in the centre of the county and there is a much higher population in Shropshire than Telford and Wrekin
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Heres are the main population centers in Shropshire and the closest hospital, PRH or RSH (Travel time by car)
Telford: 162,300 PRH
Shrewsury: 70,689 RSH
Oswestry: 15,613 RSH
Newtown: 12,783 RSH
Bridgenorth: 12216 PRH
Newport: 10,814 PRH
Ludlow: 10500 RSH
Whitchurch: 8,934 PRH
Shifnal : 7,094 PRH
Welshpool: 6,269 RSH
Wem: 5,142 RSH
PRH: 201,358
RSH: 120,996
Telford also has by far the youngest population in the county.
So when you say
‘There are more children living nearer to Shrewsbury than to Telford’ Maybe you should see if it is true instead of just guessing.
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You’ve missed out so many places…in favour of a higher number of people using Telford. We have a few friends in whitchurch and they use Shrewsbury. Also the numbers using the children’s ward at Shrewsbury were far higher than using Telford.
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There is nothing more important than the lives of our children, let’s hope these plans don’t go ahead.
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Likewise there is nothing more important than the life of a 30,60 or 90yr old, nobody should be considered worthier than another, I fear that you really live somewhere on Animal Farm.
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In the last census, for under-5s
(the group that matter for planning purposes for childrens services)
3,000 in Powys, not all of whonm use RSH
6,000 in Shropshire, some of whom use PRH
6,000 in Telford all fo whom use PRH
Given the ageing of the rest of the world, and the 25% population growth in Telford, the 2011 census is likely to have over half the total ‘East of Atcham’
Split sites inevitably carry risk – but we aren’t in a postition to put everything on one site – do you have a more sensible split to suggest?
Had the 1960s planners built a single hospital East of Shrewsbury (say on the Monkmoor Geriatric Hospital site) we wouldn’t be where we are today – Copthorne North was built too far West in order to meet the demands of Powys – and so was ill placed to serve Telford (too far to meet response times for major industrial accidents for example) – hence the need for and construction of Telford Hospital.
The two-site problem we face today is a direct consequence of placing the needs of a small distant population in Powys ahead of the needs of the rest. It would be a shame to make the same mistake twice
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If you live in a city like Birmingham for example it can easily take 20 mins + at least to get to hospital because of the traffic.
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I bet that the figures put forward for the proposed move of services will fall well short of the actual cost. As usual. And if the maternity building is as bad as they suggest, surely there is too much risk to mothers and their babies now? Where is the money going to come from for this project, and why isn’t that money available to improve the RSH site instead. Healthcare provision is always cyclical…if the moves goes ahead, in 10 years under a different lot they’ll probably be transferred back.
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The problem of where the services should be based has been a problem ever sense Telford was established. Shrewsbury fought long and hard to keep all the services there, with the accident and emergency and maternity being the key ones. Two of my children were born in the Shrewsbury hospital requiring long and sometimes quite dangerous journeys along the icy roads (this was before the M54). The majority of childre were being born to Telford parents as it was a new town. My third child was born dead in Telford because the ambulance could not get me to the hospital on time. It is not a competition between the hospitals and the need of the areas it is a necessity and a right of all mothers and children to be able to receive the safetsty and fastest treatment.
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