Shropshire's MPs speak out on Future Fit delay dismay
Shropshire's MPs have spoken of their "dismay and disappointment" over delays to a shake-up of county health services.
The five MPs met health chiefs yesterday to discuss the Future Fit programme, which aims to redesign emergency health services.
A preferred option for the location of a new single A&E unit for Shropshire – either at Telford's Princess Royal or the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital – was due to be announced by health bosses this month.
But the board said neither option properly addressed a £20 million-plus deficit and the decision was deferred.
In a joint statement following their meeting in Shrewsbury, the MPs – Lucy Allan, Philip Dunne, Daniel Kawczynski, Owen Paterson and Mark Pritchard – said they felt a mixture of "dismay and disappointment that after two years and £2m of public money being spent, final decisions have been delayed yet again".
All five Shropshire MPs today met NHS Health bosses in Shrewsbury to discuss the Future Fit postponement.
All five MPs expressed a mixture of dismay and disappointment that after two years and £2 million of public money being spent, final decisions have been delayed yet again.
They agreed to keep the pressure on NHS leaders in the county and will liaise with the Department of Health/NHS England to ensure a realistic timetable for decision making is set to secure delivery of high quality emergency and community healthcare in Shropshire over the next decade.
David Evans, of Telford Clinical Commissioning Group, and Brigid Stacey, of Shropshire CCG, said: "It was unlikely that a strategic outline case would have been approved by central bodies like NHS England, the Trust Development Authority and the Treasury.
"It was therefore agreed to defer a decision on naming a preferred option for transforming NHS services for patients in Telford, Shropshire and Mid Wales."
