Future Fit: Fresh delays as health bosses reject Shropshire A&E recommendations
Controversial decisions over the future of emergency healthcare in Shropshire have suffered further delays after chiefs voted not to accept recommendations made by the NHS Future Fit board.
Members of Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin clinical commissioning groups were presented with the NHS Future Fit board's recommendations during a meeting this evening.
Future Fit boss David Evans and Debbie Vogler, Future Fit programme director, were at Telford's International Centre to present the board's proposals regarding the future of A&E in the Shropshire.
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A: No change (not clinically deliverable)
B: One A&E in Telford and Telford to keep women and children's centre (financially and clinically deliverable)
C1: One A&E in Shrewsbury, Telford's women and children's centre to move to Shrewsbury, Telford to have urgent care centre (financially and clinically deliverable)
C2: Telford to keep its women and children's centre but only Shrewsbury would have A&E (not clinically deliverable)
The Future Fit board wanted options B and C1 to form part of a public consultation, but option C1 was the board's preferred option.
Tonight the joint CCG board's vote was split, meaning no public consultation will take place and the matter will go back to the Future Fit board.
The Future Fit review recommended that the best of four options would be to have one A&E serving Shropshire and Mid Wales at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.
Under those plans the A&E at Telford's Princess Royal Hospital would be downgraded to a 24-hour urgent care centre.
The two-year-old, £28 million Women and Children's Centre at PRH would also move to Shrewsbury.
The options of no change or having one A&E in Shrewsbury and keeping the women and children's centre in Telford had been seen as "not clinically deliverable" by the Future Fit board.
However, tonight's vote on whether to accept the Future fit board's four recommendations and send them out for public consultation was split, with six members of the joint CCG committee voting for and six against.
It means the plans were rejected, no public consultation will yet take place and the matter will be referred back to the NHS Future Fit board for further work.
Mr Evans said he supported the decision and the board would now look at carrying out an independent review.
He said: "We need to look at how long that will take and agree with the programme board a timetable for moving forward.
"The independent review will look at the process and methodology used for the options appraisal and consider how robust that was."
More than 150 members of the public turned out to the meeting.
If the board's recommendations had been approved, Telford & Wrekin Council had pledged to pursue a judicial review to prevent Telford losing its A&E department and the Women and Children's Centre.
During the meeting, leader of Telford & Wrekin Council Shaun Davies said: "Residents of Telford & Wrekin and business organisations do not have any trust or confidence in the Future Fit process whatsoever."
He said key questions had still not been answered.
Other members of the public raised concerns over the affordability of the proposals and whether enough evidence had been taken into consideration.
Gill George, from Shropshire Defend Our NHS, said the proposals could not go out to consultation as they stood.
Addressing the committee, she said: "What a farce that would be when you are completely divided amongst yourselves.
"With this level of division and public hostility it would be utter nonsense."
The Shropshire Star's Lisa O'Brien reported live from the meeting:
