No simple solutions to healthcare dilemma

It comes as shadow health secretary Andy Burnham weighed into the debate about the future of Shropshire's A&E services during a visit to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital yesterday.

Adrian Osborne, communications director at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, said the NHS is facing "significant challenges" on a local and national level in meeting growing demand with finite resources.

He made the comments after new figures showed a 7.3 per cent increase in emergency admissions to the county's two main hospitals in the past two years.

The trust is currently involved in a consultation on how healthcare services will operate in Shropshire in the future, with one of the A&E units at Shrewsbury and Telford potentially due to be downgraded.

Mr Osborne said: "Both locally and nationally the NHS faces some significant challenges in meeting the increasing demand for services from a population growing in both size and age, with increasingly complex conditions – all within the finite resources available.

"We have been working closely with our partners in health and social care to make sure people receive their care and support in the right place, reduce unnecessary admissions to hospital, and make sure those patients who no longer need the specialist care provided in an acute hospital are able to leave in a safe and timely manner. This is not just for the coming winter, but for years to come.

"There are no simple solutions to the challenges we face and that is why the local NHS is determined to involve the whole community in a debate.

"This will help to develop a model of community and hospital healthcare that meets the expectations and needs of both urban and rural communities now and for the future."

Speaking yesterday, Mr Burnham said it was important two A&E departments were maintained in Shropshire.

Mr Osborne said Wrekin MP Mark Pritchard and David Wright, MP for Telford, had approached him over the subject of the closure of one of Shropshire's A&E departments when he was Health Secretary in the previous Labour Government.

He said: "I remember when I was Health Secretary David Wright and Mark Pritchard coming to me to discuss this issue and I remember being persuaded by them.

"It would be impossible to imagine Telford without an A&E given the geography.

"Centralising the A&E in Shropshire could be seriously detrimental for the county.

"If it is a financial consideration then it is unsupportable.

"If it is suggested as it will improve services then it should be considered.

"It will put stress on the people who have to visit people in A&E as they will have to travel a lot further."