New RSH childrens’ unit gets the go-ahead

Plans for a new paediatric assessment unit at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital – part of a £35m shake-up of healthcare in Shropshire – has been given the go-ahead.

The development will see a single storey extension built next to A&E entrance on the  hospital’s Mytton Oak Road site. The current Shropdoc temporary building will be removed.

Hospital bosses said today they were ‘delighted’ by the approval from Shropshire Council.

They said the new unit would be up and running by the summer of 2014.

The scheme forms part of a shake-up of hospital services in the county.

Under plans approved by the strategic health authority, hospital bosses will focus women and children’s services at Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital, while the RSH will become a centre for acute surgery.

Planning permission for a new £28million women and children’s unit in Telford was granted in March with work on the centre due to start this month.

The new units at RSH will be next to the accident and emergency department.

Chris Needham, RSH’s technical lead for the project, said: “This new PAU forms part of the relocation of women’s and children’s services out of the maternity building at RSH into refurbished, fit-for-purpose accommodation.”

He added: “The Shrewsbury midwifery-led unit, maternity outpatient department and early pregnancy assessment service will also be relocated at the RSH site into refurbished, improved accommodation.”

In a letter approving the plans Shropshire Council’s development manager Ian Kilby said the proposals conformed to regulations.