NHS England 'won't intervene in Future Fit row'

But a senior official at the body has said that the organisation is "supporting" both Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin clinical commissioning groups to get over the impasse.

It comes after Shrewsbury & Atcham MP Daniel Kawczynski wrote to the organisation calling for a chairman of the joint meetings of Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin CCGs to have a casting vote on whether to proceed with a preferred option for the county's hospitals.

In response, Wendy Saviour, director of commissioning operations for NHS England, North Midlands, said: "Governance arrangements regarding decision making are determined locally and not imposed by NHS England, however, we are supporting the clinical commissioning groups to achieve resolution."

Mr Kawczynski had described the voting system used at a recent joint meeting between Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin CCGs as "untenable" and an "oversight".

The meeting was the next step in the Future Fit process with a vote, supporting a preferred option of creating the county's sole emergency centre at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, required to proceed to public consultation. Instead the groups split in a 6-6 vote purely on geographical lines.

The vote came on the back of huge concern from Telford residents over the potential downgrading of Princess Royal Hospital's A&E and the move of its women and children's unit to RSH.

Mr Kawczynski said a system was needed to break the deadlock.

He said: "Inevitably, as a result of my meeting with Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group, I have contacted NHS England's regional director to ask them to review the structure and make-up of the Future Fit process, in that there is no casting vote from a chairman which we feel makes the whole process untenable and makes it impossible to make a decision."

The Future Fit process is now on hold, pending an independent review.