Future Fit timeline 2013-2018: How it has unfolded
As timelines go it is a big one. The to-ing and fro-ing of Future Fit is hard to fathom.
It is a tale of shifting sands as decisions come and go, of vested interests as groups rally around their own hospital and of finance as the bill for the whole process grows and grows.
You can see the full timeline below.
Today health bosses insist 2018 will be the year in which the process comes to an end – and work will start in a new system of healthcare in which a main emergency centre at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital is supported by urgent care units in Shrewsbury and at Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital.
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Health campaigner Gill George, from Shropshire Defend Our NHS group, today called on the process to be axed altogether.
She said: “Future Fit is an utter shambles.
“It’s got zero credibility. It’s on the brink of collapse. It’s time for health bosses to admit it’s past its sell-by date.
“It’s about cuts and closures. It will lead to worse care wherever you live.
“Instead of Future Fit, they need to work with politicians to get funding for our NHS to get decent healthcare for all of us.”
Telford MP Lucy Allan said: “The decision-making process has been tortuous.
“There has still been no public consultation. During the four-year period there have been two general elections. This issue was predictably hijacked for political gain, leaving residents confused and mistrustful of the clinicians’ proposals.
“All proposals clinicians have considered envisage significant additional capital spend funded by government.
“I am a great believer in empowering local people to make decisions about the issues that affect them, and not for central government to dictate what is best for us. However, in this case, given the context of continual delay, the appearance of incompetence and the loss of confidence of local people in the process, the need for government action is pressing.
“We are celebrating Telford’s 50th anniversary in 2018 and we have much to celebrate. I represent Telford. It’s my job to fight for local people to ensure their needs and concerns are met and our future is secured, and that is what I will continue to do.”
Daniel Kawczynski, MP for Shrewsbury and Atcham, said: “I’m hopeful now we are entering the final stages of this long-running saga they will be successful in securing the £300m to undertake these changes.
“I’m doing everything possible to ensure the government looks favourably on these recommendations.”
He said it was important to move forward with the process and Telford & Wrekin Council could be blamed for past delays.
In 2016, Telford & Wrekin Council threatened legal action over the proposals.
Council leader Shaun Davies has said the plans do not make sense, while Councillor Andrew Eade, leader of the Conservative opposition, has called for another option to be considered in the forthcoming consultation.
He wants to see a new specialist centre for emergency care built in Shropshire.
Wrekin MP Mark Pritchard said the process “must be concluded soon” but raised further questions. He said: “There is also the big unanswered question why a third option of a new specialist centre cannot be opened up between Telford and Shrewsbury.
“I also question why top hospital consultants have not been asked for their views directly, rather their views have just been interpreted by others on their behalf. That is not real clinical and medical consultation. Many doctors I speak to have grave doubts about Future Fit.”
Future Fit - the timeline:
2013: It is announced that there will be a change to health services in the county.
January 30, 2014: Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust board (SaTH) is due to approve the plan for the redesign of how services are delivered in Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and Mid Wales.
February 24, 2014: NHS bosses set aside £1.145 million for the delivery of the Future Fit programme to redesign the way services are delivered.
March 14, 2014: It is announced that Shropshire is to have just one A&E department.
March 27, 2014: The transformation of hospital services will take “as long as it takes” to make sure it is right, according to Dr Caron Morton, accountable officer for Shropshire clinical commissioning groups (CCGs).
March 31, 2014: The Shropshire Defend Our NHS campaign is launched in response to what the group describes as “an escalating crisis in the NHS, locally and nationally”.
June 20, 2014: The Future Fit blueprint is backed unanimously by the joint health overview and scrutiny committee of Shropshire Council and Telford & Wrekin Council.
August 12, 2014: A series of workshops is held to find out how people think healthcare can be improved for the future.
September 5, 2014: The two-year operating plan published by SaTH suggests one single A&E unit in a new purpose built hospital is the only way to go.
September 12, 2014: Councillors in Telford & Wrekin call for Secretary of State for Health Jeremy Hunt to intervene and end uncertainty over the future of A&E services in the town.
September 25, 2014: Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham says concentrating A&E services in Shropshire on one site could be “dangerous”.
September 26, 2014: Eight different options are drawn up as part of the Future Fit programme and presented to members of SaTH.
September 29. 2014: The new £28million Women and Children’s Centre at the PRH opens for the first time.
October 1, 2014: Health chiefs release a feasibility study which reveals building on a new site between Shrewsbury and Telford would cost £500 million to £520 million.
November 29 2014: Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt refuses to get involved in ongoing discussions over Shropshire’s A&E services.
August 12, 2015: David Evans, chief officer for Telford and Wrekin CCG, says the preferred option for the new emergency centre would be announced on October 1.
August 28 2015: SaTH is forecasting a deficit of £17.2 million for 2015/2016 – and the saving made by closing an A&E unit would not significantly change the financial situation, trust board members are told at a meeting.
September 23 2015: Mike Sharon, programme director of Future Fit, tells Telford & Wrekin CCG proposals for a single hospital have been deemed unaffordable.
October 1, 2015: The decision is put back, possibly until summer 2016.
October 1, 2015: It is announced the Women and Children’s Centre has seen 3,700 births in its first year and has treated over 10,000 children.
October 3, 2015: It is revealed the bill for the work carried out since the launch of Future Fit in 2013 is likely to reach £3 million.
November 16, 2015: Dr Caron Morton resigns as accountable officer for Shropshire CCG.
November 25, 2015: Dr Bill Gowans resigns from the board of Shropshire’s CCG.
December 5, 2015: Telford & Wrekin Council launches campaign to keep A&E in Telford.
December 9, 2015: SaTH says a decision will be made in June 2017.
December 24 2015: MPs meet Simon Wright, the new chief executive of the trust.
February 4, 2016: Experts have from international auditing company Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) are asked to review the work.
March 30, 2016: It is announced that it will take up to seven years to create a new single A&E department for Shropshire.
April 12, 2016: GPs describe plans to reorganise Shropshire health services as “naive to the point of being dangerous”.
April 27, 2016: Members of Telford’s CCG board delay a decision on whether to support the strategic outline case for Future Fit.
April 29 2016: Peter Latchford, chairman of SaTH’s board, said changes need to be made to services at the RSH and PRH, but says delays in making a plan means further pressure is being put on the already stretched system.
May 10, 2016: Future Fit plans are thrown into turmoil as the county’s two clinical commissioning groups are split on whether to back the plans.
June 29, 2016: Both CCGs agree the strategic outline case for Future Fit.
Mid September 2016: Options appraisal meeting outlines future for both hospitals in Shropshire – reportedly saying that the PRH should lose both its A&E and Women and Children’s Centre.
September 27, 2016: Telford & Wrekin Council leader Shaun Davies promises legal action to keep accident and emergency services at PRH.
September 29, 2016: An online petition launches to fight the possible closure of Telford’s A&E department. More than 200 people pack into Ludlow School hall to talk about the future of health and other services in rural Shropshire.
October 1, 2016: Hundreds of people turn out to protest against threats to health services at PRH. A march takes place from Wellington town centre to the hospital.
October 5, 2016: Future Fit Programme Board meets and is expected to agree a recommended option for the futures of RSH and PRH, but NHS bosses put off a recommendation for up to four weeks.
October 6, 2016: Telford & Wrekin Council unanimously back a motion calling on Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to intervene in the Future Fit process.
October 7, 2016: Another petition launches fighting for Shropshire to retain both of the county’s accident and emergency departments.
October 10, 2016: Shropshire Council insists decisions made over the future of the county’s healthcare should be “clinically and not politically led”.
October 11, 2016: Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group’s current deficit stands at £19.4m – a deterioration of £12.2m from the planned deficit of £7.2m.
October 12, 2016: Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt says changes to the county’s major hospitals must be led by local clinicians, and that any decision must benefit patients. Conservative MPs Daniel Kawczynski and Owen Paterson hold talks with Mr Hunt.
October 14, 2016: More than 13,400 people have pledged their support to Telford & Wrekin Council’s #PRH4Me campaign.
October 27, 2016: Health experts visit the county’s major hospitals to review the Future Fit plans.
November 14, 2016: It is announced that public consultation is likely to be pushed back until after May. Telford & Wrekin Council calls on Future Fit bosses to admit the process is flawed. North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson says the delays are frustrating for everyone concerned and damaging for public confidence.
November 25, 2016: Jeremy Corbyn wades into the row over the future of A&E services in Shropshire, saying both departments must remain open.
November 26/27, 2016: Demonstrations against NHS cuts and threats to services in Shropshire are held in Shrewsbury and Wellington.
November 30, 2016: Future Fit programme board announces its preferred option for a single A&E unit at RSH and relocation of services from Telford’s Women and Children’s Centre.
December 1, 2016: Telford & Wrekin Council leader Shaun Davies calls an emergency full council meeting to discuss the possibility of seeking a judicial review into the recommendation.
December 7, 2016: Telford & Wrekin councillors unanimously back taking legal action if plans to create a single A&E unit at Shrewsbury go ahead. The council demands an independent review into Future Fit.
December 12, 2016: Members of Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin clinical commissioning groups vote not to accept recommendations made by the NHS Future Fit board. The plan is referred back to the board for further work to take place on the plans.
December 13, 2016: Boss of the programme board David Evans says an independent review into the Future Fit appraisal process is essential to find a way forward.
December 15, 2016: The boss of SaTH, Simon Wright, insists on the right of people to have their say over the future of services.
December 21, 2016: Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt vows to step in to the ongoing Future Fit process in a bid to bring it to a close.
December 23, 2016: David Sandbach, former chief executive of Telford’s PRH, says a new specialist emergency care centre along the A5 would save cash.
December 24, 2016: More than 20,000 people have now backed Telford & Wrekin Council’s #PRH4Me campaign.
January 10, 2017: MPs Mark Pritchard and Lucy Allan, Shropshire Council leader Malcolm Pate and chief executive Clive Wright, along with Telford & Wrekin Council leader Shaun Davies meet with Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt. Telford & Wrekin CCG is told that it is unlikely consultation will begin before June at the earliest.
January 12, 2017: Health minister David Mowat rules that a new independent chairman with a casting vote will be appointed for joint meetings between Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin clinical commissioning groups.
February 8, 2017: Health and social care leaders in Shropshire agree to commission an independent review into the NHS Future Fit programme without delay.
February 18, 2017: The British Medical Association says the Government does not have enough money to complete a multi-billion pound revamp of health services – including the £300 million Future Fit plans for Shropshire.
March 8, 2017: It is revealed that the last year of working on the Future Fit process has cost £700,000.
April 12, 2017: First Minister of Wales Carwyn Jones confirms his support for having accident and emergency services based in Shrewsbury.
April 20, 2017: SaTH’s chief executive Simon Wright says the intention is to maintain a women and children’s centre at PRH no matter what decision is made about where the emergency centre should be based.
April 26, 2017: Simon Wright says that if the Future Fit consultation does not take place in June then the county risks losing out on funding for its plans.
May 8, 2017: It is reported that an independent review into the future of hospital services in Shropshire has still not begun and no one has yet been appointed to take the helm.
June 14, 2017: It emerges that consultancy firm KPMG has been appointed to carry out the independent review of the process.
June 15, 2017: MP Daniel Kawczynski says he has called an emergency meeting over the Future Fit review of hospitals. He says he wants to discuss his concerns over “massive gridlock and delay” in the process.
July 11, 2017: Health officials say that public consultation on the future of county hospital services is now not expected to take place until September.
July 31, 2017: During a meeting of the NHS Future Fit Programme Board, members renew their recommendation that an emergency centre should be based at RSH, while the majority of day case surgery should be carried out at Telford’s PRH.
August 5, 2017: A report into the Future Fit review warns the money may not be there to make proposed changes a reality.
August 10, 2017: NHS Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin Clinical Commissioning Groups’ Future Fit joint committee agree on its preferred option of siting emergency care for the county at the RSH and moving services from Telford’s women’s and children’s centre.
August 12, 2017: A poll shows more than eight out of 10 people have no confidence in the Future Fit process.
September 15, 2017: The long-awaited consultation papers are finally submitted.
October 2, 2017: A meeting to provide formal assurance to NHS England over the Future Fit process is planned but it is postponed.
October 19, 2017: A key panel meeting is organised for today to provide formal assurance to NHS England.
November 10, 2017: Labour’s shadow health secretary Jon Ashworth says Future Fit should be put on hold to allow for a fresh review of healthcare in Shropshire.
November 14, 2017: Telford & Wrekin CCG agrees to the Future Fit business model, subject to a number of changes being made to it ahead of the next scheduled talks with national NHS bosses.
November 15, 2017: Shropshire’s CCG also signs off on the pre-consultation business case and consultation documents.
November 21, 2017: NHS England confirms it is reviewing the plans.
November 24, 2017: Health campaigners call for the plug to be pulled on Future Fit but Dr Julian Povey, chairman of Shropshire CCG, says stopping it now will cause chaos.
November 28, 2017: Councillor Andrew Eade, leader of the Conservative opposition on Telford & Wrekin Council, says building a specialist centre for emergency care in Shropshire should be included as an option in the forthcoming consultation.
December 13, 2017: The consultation is delayed again as NHS England wants to know that the funding is available.
