Future Fit: 'No victories' if either Shropshire A&E closes

Gill George, chairwoman of Shropshire Defend Our NHS, said there would be “no victories” in any decision that leads to the closure of an A&E.

Her views come as Future Fit bosses renewed their recommendation that an emergency centre be based at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, while the majority of day surgery be carried out at Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital.

The recommendation – as well as an alternative proposal that would see Telford’s services retained – is expected to go to public consultation later this year.

“This has never been Telford versus Shrewsbury or Telford & Wrekin versus Shropshire,” Ms George said. “There are no victories here for the people of Shropshire.

“This is about deep, very savage cuts to frontline healthcare.”

Bosses at Future Fit said that a decision had to be made because services across two hospitals were proving “increasingly difficult” to provide.

An independent review found that the process that had led to Shrewsbury being recommended by the Future Fit board had been handled correctly.

Under the recommended plans, urgent care would still be carried out at Princess Royal, but all emergency and critical care would go to Shrewsbury.

But Ms George said that more funding has to be found to keep both A&Es open.

“Health bosses say we can’t keep two A&Es,” she said. “What has happened historically in the NHS is that you start from patient need. If what you’ve got is this massive area of Shropshire, then patient need dictates you have two A&Es. If you don’t retain those, people will die.

“We’ve got the sixth lowest level of NHS funding per head of the population in the whole country, but the health needs of the local population is above average. “We have an older than average population in Shropshire, in Telford & Wrekin there’s a relatively socially deprived population, which means higher than average medical needs. Why is it that we’ve got rock bottom funding?Our MPs need to wake up to what’s happening. They need to go back to the treasure and ask why we’re not getting the money we need.”

Ms George said Shropshire Defend Our NHS would continue campaigning.

“There should be nothing inevitable about people dying unnecessarily,” she said. “If we accept the closure of the A&E and massive health cuts, we’re accepting unnecessary pain, unnecessary disability, and unnecessary death.

“We’ll be campaigning hard for an alternative. We say cuts and closures are not inevitable, we say we’re going to fight hard to retain decent health care for local people. The campaign will not let up for even one minute.”