Telford A&E night closure call 'a downgrade by the back door'

Hospital board members were today being asked

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But members of Telford & Wrekin Council said the plans make 'no sense' – and leader Shaun Davies says he will go to health secretary Jeremy Hunt and demand he place the trust in special measures if the plans are approved at a meeting in Shrewsbury today.

The suggestion is to close Telford's A&E from 8pm until 8am, with emergency cases being taken to Shrewsbury instead.

Walk-in cases would still be dealt with by an urgent care centre in Telford, which could take non-emergency cases.

It is estimated an average of 18 patients a night would be transferred, but the plan could be dropped if the staffing situation in A&E improves.

Telford and Wrekin Council officials say the plan contradicts the argument that the £28 million women and children's centre at PRH, which opened just over two years ago, must be on the same site as an A&E unit.

Under this overnight closure plan the women and children's centre would remain in Telford.

Councillor Shaun Davies, council leader, said: "We will fight this tooth and nail – allowing to go ahead it will effectively start the downgrading of our hospital by the backdoor.

"It cannot make sense. The PRH is at the heart of the area's biggest population which also has the greatest health needs. Clinical safety and business continuity are being used by SaTH to steamroller through a change that they know they cannot get through by other means.

"I believe this has always been SaTH's agenda to sort out problems within the RSH site at the expense of the population of Telford and Wrekin and the huge swathes of Shropshire for whom the PRH is their hospital.

"SaTH has itself said that the public should be consulted on any changes to hospital services yet in the next breath are seeking to railroad through their preferred option."

"The issues SaTH cite are of their own making and I have received many reports of a culture at SaTH that is overbearing. For example, for all the trust's talk of engaging stakeholders, it hasn't had the courtesy of telling key partners such as this council of the detail of this plan.

"I believe if SaTH's board today backs this recommendation it is time for a no confidence motion in SaTH and I shall be contacting be the secretary of state for health urging him to intervene and place this trust in special measures."

Since 2014 the number of A&E consultants at SATH has fallen to five and could fall lower.

The A&E closure plans come amid continuing controversy about the stalled Future Fit review. and the wish of hospital bosses for a single specialist A&E to be based at RSH.

Health bosses say the plans are needed because without intervention the 'tipping point' on consultant cover will be reached before the Future Fit plans for a single unit is opened.

A report which is due to be discussed today in Shrewsbury by board members say the plan does allow the trust to step back at any point over the next six months if circumstances change.

Overnight A&E closure plans defended by hospital chiefs

Hospital bosses have defended the plans for the possible overnight closure of Telford's A&E.

They say the problems at Shropshire's two A&E departments have been discussed publicly for more than a year.

Simon Wright, chief executive of the trust which controls Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Telford's Princess Royal, said they will take every step possible to avoid the overnight closure of Telford A&E.

But he said the trust need to plan now before they reach a 'crisis point'.

He said: "The safety of our patients is our first priority and unless the number of doctors we have for our A&E departments improves, we will have to take action later this year to temporarily suspend A&E services at PRH overnight.

"The fragility of emergency care was a major issue when the NHS Future Fit programme started in 2014 and the staffing fragilities have worsened since then.

"We need to plan now before we reach a crisis point. Our paper proposes that we start planning for an overnight suspension of A&E services at PRH.

"We will continue to review this, taking every step possible to avoid suspending these services, but if we are unable to recruit or ensure stability for our A&E departments within six months, we will unfortunately need to take action to safeguard our patients.

"This is not the downgrade of PRH by the backdoor. We absolutely do not want to take this action, which is why we're not making a final decision for six months.

"This plan means that we can step back at any point over the next six months if the situation improves.

"This is not being done on a whim. We have been very clear publicly – and in meetings with councils, commissioners and the wider public - about the pressures our urgent and critical care system is under.

"This will give us more time to try to recruit the consultants or locums that we need to prevent us having to take the action outlined in the board paper to close A&E at PRH overnight.

"Over the next six months we will work closely with our doctors and other frontline staff to ensure the safety of our service. We will also work with our health partners, including Healthwatch, the Community Health Council, the police and ambulance services and other patient representative groups over the coming months to ensure people are involved in the implementation of this plan.

"We are taking definitive leadership in opening this issue up for discussion publicly and no stakeholder can honestly say that they were not aware of this risk.

"We are not committing to a change. Rather, we are preparing in case a change is needed without a crisis having to be introduced."