Consultant: I fear for our hospitals

A Shropshire consultant today said he feared for the future of the county's health services if plans to shake up its two main hospitals did not go ahead.

Dr John Jones fears the county could lose specialist services to areas such as Stoke or Wolverhampton if the plans by the Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust are scrapped.

He said it was vital the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Telford's Princess Royal were no longer seen as two small hospitals but as one large one where services were not duplicated.

In an open letter Dr Jones, a consultant physician and gastroenterologist at the trust, said he was speaking not only as a consultant but as a resident of Shropshire and as a father of two children who uses the county's hospital services.

The NHS trust is currently consulting over proposals to reconfigure the services on the sites of the RSH and the PRH.

The controversial plans have been met with opposition, particularly the moving of children's and women's services from Shrewsbury to Telford.

But Dr Jones today said he was worried for the future if the plans did not go ahead.

He said: "I do really fear for our local health services if these proposals are rejected. Although most arguments focus on the financial implications the truth is much more complicated.

There is no prospect of providing duplicate high quality services at both sites."

Dr Jones said external pressures meant more specialised services were being concentrated in larger hospitals. Patients suffering major heart attacks are now taken out to Stoke for specialist treatment.

"Even with such life-threatening emergencies it is recognised that it is better to travel further to get the right treatment," he said.

"We should also be assuring our patients and potential patients that, whatever the outcome of this process and whatever opinions we might individually hold, we will care for you, your family, and your friends with all the care, attention, and skill you have entrusted to us."