Ludlow hospital project failures revealed

Details of how many patients would be treated at the planned hospital on Ludlow Eco Park and arrangements for delivering services were never agreed, it has emerged.

The hospital project was dropped suddenly in September 2013 – but only after £2.4 million was spent developing the plans.

The findings into why the bid failed have emerged in an independent external review published by the NHS Trust Development Authority two years on.

It was today being put before board members of Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust, which oversees Ludlow's current ageing hospital on Gravel Hill. The report by NHS finance director Neil Chapman states that cancelling the project was the right move – but the business case should not have been approved in the first place.

A replacement hospital was first suggested in 2007 so fewer people in south Shropshire would have to travel to bigger hospitals in Shrewsbury, Telford, Hereford and Worcester. At the time the hospital on Gravel Hill was deemed unfit for purpose.

A full business case was approved by multiple NHS bodies in May 2012. But a year later it was found there would be a shortfall of £1.1 million a year because the numbers of patients that would transfer from Shrewsbury, Telford or Hereford would be a lot less than estimated.

Mr Chapman said the problem was that the various bodies involved – including ShropCom, Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust (SaTH) and Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group – had not pinned down the precise details before approving the business case.

Julie Thornby, director of corporate affairs at ShropCom, said the trust had a new management team and measures were in place to stop anything similar happening again.