Health chiefs attended four meetings to determine the long-term future of the Royal Shrewsbury and Telford’s Princess Royal hospitals.

Health officials and many clinicians are warning that changes are needed to ensure services remain safe and sustainable and are not lost to bigger centres such as Stoke and Wolverhampton. But campaigners claim the proposals could put the lives of mothers and babies in danger.

7.10pm: The Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee of Shropshire Council and Telford and Wrekin Council agreed that the consultation process has fully met expectations and there is no need to refer the matter to the Secretary of State.

The committee reaffirms its support for the hospital proposals.

4.25pm The National Health Service Trust Telford and Wrekin unanimously backs changes to hospital services.

But like colleagues at Shropshire County PCT  they call for hospital trust to lead discussions with ambulance services to improve ambulance response times and to identify other means of mitigating travel times.

15.55: It is time to look at how, not if, plans to transform Shropshire hospitals will take place, a health chief said.

Adam Cairns, chief executive of Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “We need to get past the point of which option we are looking at andstart looking with an implimentation mindset.”

15.37: Health chiefs have claimed safety will be compromised if they fail to act now to transform Shropshire hospital services.

Leigh Griffin, chief executive of Shropshire County Primary Care Trust, said: “We have reached a critical stage where continuation of the status quo is clearly not an option due to the risk of safety being compromised.

“We have found a viable way forward in terms of cost, blance of care and safety.”

15.20: Doctors who publicly challenged the plans to move some childrens and maternity services to Telford have agreed to abide by whatever health chiefs decide, it was revealed at this afternoon’s meeting.

Adam Cairns, chief executive of Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Hospitals Trust, said: “These plans have been agreed by all clinicians, including the side at Shrewsbury that had expressed concerns. There are also four neo-natal care doctors at Royal Shrewsbury who, despite their views, have agreed to suport the pathways we are following.”

15.00: Telford &  Wrekin Primary Care Trust meeting begins

13.10pm: The Shropshire County Primary Care Trust board have unanimously  supported proposals which will see women and children’s services moved from the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital to Telford’s Prioncess Royal.

Shrewsbury will become the main surgical centre.

In giving its support the primary care trust is seeking a number of assurances.

In particular, it wants to see improved ambulance response times and is calling on the Shrewbury and Telford hopsitals Trust to identify ways of mitigating travel times for people in Mid Wales and west Shropshire.

12.50pm:

Dr Leigh Griffin

The Chief Executive of the Shropshire County Primary Trust has asked his board to back controversial plans to move some services from Shrewsbury to Telford hospitals.

But Dr Leigh Griffin has asked members to request assurances on key issues.

These include ambulance times, quality of service, and minimising disruptions during the handover.

11.25am:

Adam Cairns, chief executive of the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust, arrives at the meeting

The man heading the controversial plans to transform Shropshire’s hospitals says health chiefs can only just afford the proposed scheme.

Adam Cairns, cheif exececutive of the Shrewsbury & Telford Hospitals  NHS Trust, said: “The £28m plan we have is at the absolute limit of affordability.

“We are stretching the outer limit of what our trust can service by way of debts”

Mr Cairns was speaking to Shropshire County Primary Care Trust at the second of four public meetings today on the future of Shropshire’s hospital services.

11.00am:

Campaigners fighting plans to move some maternity and children’s services from the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital to Telford’s Princess Royal said health chiefs’ ‘minds seem made up’ after the first of four meetings today.

The meeting decided to support plans to move the services from Shrewsbury to Telford.

Former director of the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, Ron Jones, who opposed the move, said: “It was an intersting meeting, in so much as the debate on the proposals was a very minor port of the time provided.

“There wasn’t really any discussion and the outcome was clear from the first presentation.”

11am – Shropshire County Primary Care Trust Meeting begins

10.35am:

Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust board members have given their backing to a shake-up of services.

They agreed to “commend” proposals to the county’s two primary care trusts which will make the final decsion today.

Trust chairman, Dr John Davies, said the plans marked the start of a “new era” for healthcare for the people of Shropshire.

10.09am:

Health chiefs have today revealed that children’s surgeons from cramped wards in Birmingham and Liverpool are keen to move parts of their workload to Shropshire hospitals, if a plan to move some services from Shrewsbury to Telford goes ahead.

The plan was unveiled at the first of four public meetings taking place today about proposals to move some children’s and paediatrics services from Royal Shrewsbury Hospital to Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital.

Adam Cairns, Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust chief executive, said: “Across the country there’s been a great deal of concern express about the volume of children’s surgery taking place in district hospitals.

“In Birmingham they are absolutely at sea and have more work than they want.

“Given that the kind of surgery we currenly perform on children in Shropshire is currently very minor, surgeons at hospitals in Birmingham and Liverpool believe, and we hope, that there’s scope to bring some of that work back into Shropshire.

“At the moment we are analysing how much work from Alder Hey (in Liverpool) could also be delivered by Birmingham surgeons operating in Shropshire, at the Princess Royal Hospital.”

8.30am: Meeting of the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals Trust board begins