Patients count more than buildings, says doctor as Shropshire NHS debate rages
The debate on Shropshire's health service should centre not so much on buildings and facilities but on the patients and their care, one of the top names in the consultation process has said.
Dr Bill Gowans said that while buildings and travel times were important, he wanted to get the message across to the public that the patient's journey through the health and social care process was at the heart of the Future Fit discussions about the future of services in Shropshire.
Dr Gowans, who with Dr Mike Innes are the lead clinicians in the design of Future Fit, attended a workshop style evening in Oswestry last night, one of a series being held across Shropshire and Mid Wales to bring more public involvement into the future changes to the NHS in the region.
One of the more controversial plans is to reorganise accident and emergency care in Shropshire, possibly with just one unit to replace those currently operating at Telford's Princess Royal Hospital and the Shrewsbury Royal Hospital.
Campaigners against the proposals want to keep two accident and emergency centres in Shropshire.
Last night's meeting was told the cost of having two such centres was £15 million more than if there were just one.
Dr Gowans said: "We are not talking about closing two A&E centres and opening we. We are looking at having one emergency care centre with a network of urgent care centres around the region, to which most people would go.
"For the majority of people travel times would be less and they would be seen more quickly. Similarly in other areas of health care, we want to provide more services closer to people's homes, say through the urgent care centres. With planned care patients may have to travel for an operation for instance but diagnosis and follow up care would be closer to home."
He said Future Fit was responding to the public's call for change., adding: "We asked 3,000 people what they thought of the NHS and they said it needed to change. We have taken that on board andfor the first time in my 30 years in Shropshire, we now have a design process for the future of the NHS.
"We have listened to people and we want the patient and the patient journey to be at the heart of what we do."
The plans have faced objections from groups including Shropshire Defend Our NHS.
There is also opposition to Future Fit from health campaign groups in Mid Wales, who fear that many services will move further away from the Welsh border. Those attending a meeting last night were invited to enter discussions in groups.
Similar workshops will be held this afternoon in the Cosy Hall, Newport, the Monty Club in Newtown on Monday night, and the Assembly Rooms in Ludlow on Tuesday morning.
