Public consultation on Future Fit must happen soon, health boss says

Shropshire's A&E services are perilously close to tipping point, according to Simon Wright, chief executive of The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust.

Currently SaTh has five consultants, and four locum temporary specialists to cover the A&E departments at both the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and the Princess Royal Hospital.

It should have 20.

Mr Wright said the staffing levels were a "major concern" and impacting on patient safety.

He said if a decision on the future of hospital services is not made shortly then services will close.

He said: "Our staffing position has become frailer. We continue to have times where there are not any consultants on site at Telford, especially at evenings and weekends, that means the patients are waiting a longer period for assessment at A&E so that is a concern.

"What we have seen this year is there has been no let up. We have seen a six per cent increase in A&E attendances at Princess Royal Hospital in Telford recently which is quite a big increase. This has resulted in longer waiting times. The demand is all year round now.

"Every six months we get an intake of new doctors and we have seen a reduction in the doctors coming here. It is not uncommon but we start from a lower base. Any further deterioration makes us more and more vulnerable.

"We are putting adverts out and linking appointments with our Virginia Mason work to offer something different but we are consistently getting the same message which is at the moment the rota is not appealing.

"This shadow that hangs over us about the future of emergency services is not making it any easier to retain our existing staff, let alone recruit.

"We established Future Fit to get a solution in two years – we are now three-and-a-half years into that so the hospital is extremely frustrated at the slow pace of decision making. We just want a decision to be made.

"There is an opportunity for us to go out to public consultation in August/September and we have to make sure that happens. It is wrong that the public are not being given an opportunity to shape the services and answers.

"The moment that decision is taken then we will be attractive for people to come and work here. If we continue to delay and introduce politics into this then the position will be more vulnerable and we could end up with a worse situation. It has to happen this year, enough is enough.

“We have been working very hard with the treasury and department of health for well over a year now to make sure that the development is something they are happy with, the amount of money is available to us and we can afford to pay that cost.

"We are in a very strong position now – we now need to get on and make this decision as we have hospitals which are struggling to provide modern care.”