Expert says turn one of Shropshire's hospitals into 'super hospital'
A former hospital boss has said NHS Future Fit chiefs should turn one of its existing sites into a new "super hospital", rather than build a whole new site in the county.
David Sandbach, former chief executive of the Princess Royal Hospital, said it could cost hundreds of millions of pounds to build a new hospital and could lead to either of the two existing sites – Telford's Princess Royal and the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital – becoming mothballed.
Half of the six shortlisted options drawn up by programme bosses point to a new emergency centre, dealing only with life-threatening injuries, being built on a new site somewhere in-between the RSH and Telford's Princess Royal.
Mr Sandbach said: "We should have a single site district general hospital, the only question is where could it be?
"Future Fit has rejected putting it all at either the PRH or RSH, they could expand one of the existing hospitals – the Future Fit board have made a bad mistake by not looking at this option.
"I have worked out that if they do that to the PRH, for example, it would cost £81 million for the new-build single site option.
"I am an expert in running hospitals, I know how to do it. The clinicians have always said we would like everything on one site so we have got clinical commitment that one site is the best solution.
"The bottom line is we have got two sites that you could have the super hospital at an existing site."
This comes at a time when the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust is forecasting a £12 million-plus deficit in its finances over 12 months up to April.
David Evans, lead officer for Telford & Wrekin Clinical Commissioning Group, said last week the "preferred option", set to be revealed in June, would have to be affordable otherwise they would not be able to move forward with it.
Dr Caron Morton, lead officer for Shropshire CCG, added: "Whatever money we spend on buildings is an amount that cannot be spent elsewhere."
