Teen beauty spot drinkers are ramblers, not rebels
- Dave Burrows
Campaigners demand public inquiry on Shropshire hospitals
Wednesday 1st February 2012, 10:59AM GMT.
The Royal Shrewsbury Hospital
Campaigners fighting plans to shake-up services at Shropshire’s two main hospitals in Shrewsbury and Telford today vowed that they would fight for a public inquiry.
They claim the proposals, backed by Health Sec- retary Andrew Lansley, would be a ‘catastrophe’.
The £35 million shake-up of services proposed by Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust will see women and children’s services at the Royal Shrewsbury changed when Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital takes on consultant maternity, neonatal and inpatient paediatric units. The RSH will become a centre for surgery.
But in a letter to Mr Lansley, campaigners warned the proposals would be a ‘local catastrophe’ for mothers, children and families.
And they claim he would be to blame for any deaths or injuries which they fear the changes will lead to.
In December Mr Lansley supported the trust’s plans saying the alternative of improving facilities at the RSH would cost £60 million.
In their letter, the campaigners say: “Having taken note of your comments we would assert that you are now personally culpable for any patient outcome which results in death, injury, accident or inappropriate outcome arising from the transfer of inpatient children’s, neonatology and consultant maternity services from Shrewsbury to Telford in and after 2014.
“We can guarantee that from April 2014, we will be seeking an inquiry.”
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What this piece should have said was ‘Shrewsbury campaigners’….
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Why aren’t these campaigners up in arms about other cuts? They obviously accept cuts to the welfare state, privatisation of hospitals, job losses and loss of council services. As long as they don’t have to travel 11 miles down the road.
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It is not acceptable for women with complications during childbirth to face a 15 mile journey to another hospital – whether that be east to west or west to east.
Nor is it acceptable to close Shrewsbury’s children’s ward – both hospitals need one.
Both hospitals are losing services and beds.
Let’s not lose sight of this by whipping up any more of this Telford versus Shrewsbury guff.
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But don’t you understand that if these changes don’t go ahead then you’ll be facing more of a journey then 15 miles. It will either be to Wolverhampton or Birmingham!
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Shrewsbury-biased SStar again. A lot of people live in Telford, you know….
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But a lot of people live in Ludlow, church Stretton, ellesmere, Oswestry, craven arms, wem, Minsterly, Bishops castle, clun, the list goes on. Surly these people have a right to treatment too? It’s not a Shrewsbury v Telford situation, it’s the whole of Shropshire.
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It’s only to prepare the NHS for privatisation. All those who voted for this government – what else did you expect?
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Andrew Lansley doesn’t give a stuff about ordinary people and whether or not they can get safely to hospital when their kids are seriously ill. I can’t imagine Andrew Lansley using the National Health Service – he’ll have private health insurance.
That’s why he is taking the enormous risk of centralising NHS services, privatising large chunks of it while pushing through huge cuts – it doesn’t matter to him if it works or not.
Incidentally, our MP Daniel Kawcynzki voted in favour of Andrew Lansley’s new approach to the NHS so is a hypocrite to stand up and say “but don’t take services from Shrewsbury”.
We need to get this lot out at the next election (unless of course we are happy to for RSH and PRH to become a cottage hospitals).
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