Plans for a major shake-up of hospital services in Shropshire have divided opinion. The two groups have been putting their views forward over recent weeks. Which one is right?

For the changes

The Princess Royal Hospital

If residents in Shrewsbury and Telford do not back proposals to “save” the county’s hospitals then patients could be forced to travel even further afield outside the county for care, it was warned today.

Bosses at Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital’s League of Friends today warned against moves to reject the current proposals, which they claim will save the two hospitals.

Alan Millward, chairman of the League of Friends, said a petition of 20,000 names from Shrewsbury which opposes the plans could be a setback in care for the county.

“I don’t think the people of Shrewsbury realise what they are doing because what is being proposed, if it does not get through, the people of Shrewsbury have more to lose,” said Mr Millward.

“People in Telford have always had to travel and you still have to travel to Shrewsbury for a lot of it.

“If they fight what Adam Cairns is trying to do it will be a shame.

“He has come up with something that will work. We are two hospitals but we are one NHS trust. The sooner they realise that the better. Most of the consultants have come out in favour of all this too.

“If this proposal does not happen and the people of Shrewsbury and Telford don’t get together, we will end up going to North Staffordshire or New Cross in Wolverhampton, so we will all suffer a lot more.

“No one can afford to bury their heads in the sand and live in the past any more. The money is not there to do what the people of Shrewsbury want to do. We have got to start working as one hospital and not two.

“We have got to get together and accept this plan. There is no plan B and there’s no money to do anything else.”

Also backing the proposal is Telford & Wrekin Council leader Andrew Eade.

In a bid to boost public support, Councillor Eade was at the New Bucks Head to speak to AFC Telford fans at half-time of last night’s game against Droylsden.

He said: “It is vital for the future of hospital services in whole of the county that as many local people respond to the consultation as possible, so it makes sense to take advantage of the opportunity to get that message across at the New Bucks Head.

“Telford & Wrekin Council says its support of the proposals is dependent on guarantees of safety and sustainability given by the chief executives of both the Shropshire and Telford primary care trusts, the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust and the Royal College of Surgeons.

“The council will also be giving its own formal response to the consultation and is running its own Save Our Hospitals campaign to help protect services at the two hospitals.Thursday night’s full council meeting at Telford and Wrekin Council’s Civic Offices will debate a motion to support the hospital trust’s plans.

The motion, proposed by Councillor Eade, already has the support of all the council’s political group leaders. People can give their views at www.ournhsinshropshireandtelford.nhs.uk or by calling at the council’s offices in Telford Town Centre or any council library.

The deadline for comments is March 14.

By Alan Millward

The Royal Shrewsbury Hospital

Against the changes

Nine of the 14 consultant paediatricians working at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Telford’s Princess Royal have come out against proposed service changes, warning they would not be safe or sustainable.

They have raised a number of concerns in a letter to Dr Brendan Lloyd, medical director of the Powys Health Board.

The letter was sent before a statement was issued last week by another group of senior clinicians, warning of “dire consequences” if changes were not made to the way services were delivered at the two hospitals.

The paediatricians say: “It has become apparent to us that the perception of primary care and commissioners, is that the consultant paediatricians at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust as a whole support the reconfiguration proposals, and that they feel this is the best solution for the children and newborns of the county.

“This however is not the case. Nine of the 14 acute care consultant paediatricians do not support the proposals.”

They claim this is not based on any “simple territorial stance” as was implied by a colleague at a public meeting on February 11. They add: “It is based instead on our concerns for patient safety, a lack of sustainability and loss of services.”

Referring to safety concerns, they say that newborns at the midwife-led maternity units of Powys and north West Shropshire need “active resuscitation” and claim patients will now experience “unacceptable increases in travel distance”.

The consultants are worried by proposals to separate paediatrics from the main A&E and trauma site for Shropshire — the Royal Shrewsbury — and by the moves to separate paediatrics from acute general surgery.

They warn too that proposals could have a knock-on effect and reduce A&E services at Telford.

The current consultation will end on March 14 . Board members of Shropshire County Primary Care Trust, NHS Telford and Wrekin and the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust are then expected to spend up to a week reviewing the consultation results before taking a final decision.

Meanwhile, Lib Dem members of Shropshire Council are calling for an urgent extraordinary meeting of the authority to discuss the plans. Group leader Nigel Hartin has written to council speaker David Lloyd urging him to agree to such a meeting.

The group tried to get a special meeting organised last week but the move was rejected by the full council on the grounds that it would be expensive and the issue must be left to the cabinet.

But in a letter to the speaker, Councillor Hartin says: “I am afraid that I was very sad that the council decided not to support our non-political motion to call a special council to give opportunity for all councillors to speak and vote on this highly important matter.

“Having thought about this long and hard, I have come to the conclusion that this is such an important matter that the democratic deficit of not holding such a meeting is too great.

“Therefore under the council’s constitution, I am requesting you organise, as speaker, an extraordinary meeting of the council.”

By Councillor Nigel Hartin