Call for MPs to form united front to boost Shropshire's NHS

John Crowe, of the South Shropshire Green Party, said members "supported and applauded" recent negotiations with Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt by Conservative MP Daniel Kawczynski, but more action was needed to tackle a culture of "Portakabin care" in the county as NHS services continue to face huge challenges.

He added that party campaigners were calling for a united front and a joint approach from neighbouring authorities Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin.

His comments follow the launch of a publicly-funded campaign by Telford& Wrekin Council to keep A&E services at Princess Royal Hospital.

He said: "It is a pity that one of our two local councils seeks to advantage its residents to the detriment of other parts of the county by funding a campaign to keep Telford's A&E open regardless of the fate of that at Shrewsbury," Mr Crowe said.

Meanwhile, at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, private provider Vanguard Healthcare has had to be called in to set up a mobile ward and operating theatre to ease winter pressures, he added.

"The Government's tariff of health funding through Jeremy Hunt's Department of Health simply fails to provide enough cash for Shropshire's widely distributed rural and urban populations," he said.

"Far too many elements of Shropshire's healthcare are currently under extreme pressure, from failing Category A ambulance responses, to delayed referrals anRep operations, and slow discharge of patients from hospitals.

"This is placing unreasonable pressures on doctors, nurses, carers and administrators. Their willingness to continue to wrestle with inadequate provision is committed, brave and professional and is consistently lauded by so many patients, as the NHS Choir's success amply demonstrates.

"In the UK, the sixth-richest country in the world, which achieves the healthcare it does for just 9.3 percent of its GDP, we must spend more to relieve these acute pressures."

"Shropshire's Green Parties have written to all five of the county's MPs and to its two council leaders asking them to combine and redouble their efforts to persuade Jeremy Hunt's Department of Health to change Shropshire's health tariff to reflect the rural distribution and the age demographic of the county's population.

"Unless this additional cost burden is recognised and mitigated by more funding, quite simply more of our families, friends and neighbours will be denied necessary healthcare and suffer worse health outcomes."

Mr Crowe said members also called upon Telford & Wrekin and Shropshire Councils to start working together by forming a co-operative committee, comprised of council chairs and bosses of health and care portfolios, aiming to keep the full spectrum of A&E services at both Shrewsbury and Telford.