Future Fit: Shrewsbury and Telford lined up for A&E battle
Shrewsbury will have a fight on its hands if it wants to house the county’s £311 million emergency centre, Telford's council leader pledged today.
Shaun Davies of Telford & Wrekin Council said it was a “shame” the Future Fit process was pitting Shropshire’s two main towns against each other.
But he pledged to bring the centre to Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital, leaving Royal Shrewsbury Hospital with a downgraded urgent care centre.
Councillor Davies said he had set aside “major issues” with the hospitals shake up but that it was now time to move forward as he launched Telford & Wrekin’s campaign ahead of a public consultation.
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Funding for Future Fit was granted last week.
It means Shropshire will eventually have a single emergency centre, supported by two urgent care centres.
RSH is the early preferred option, but Councillor Davies said he was determined to bring the emergency centre to PRH instead.
He said with the consultation on the proposal now definitely going ahead, it was up to the people of Telford to organise themselves and make their views heard.
The Labour council leader has called on people to get behind ‘option two’ on the Future Fit consultation, which would mean PRH becoming the county’s sole emergency centre, and retaining its women and children’s unit.
Under the plan RSH would become the base for planned care in the county.
The option is one of two going to public consultation, although ‘option one’ where RSH would become the emergency centre and home to the women and children’s facilities, is health chiefs’ preferred option.
Under both options, the two hospitals would also house urgent care centres to deal with walk-in patients.
Mr Davies said: "The second option is the quickest option to deliver. It is cheaper to deliver by more than £20million, and it is also future-proofed – we know the Telford side of the population is younger and set to grow over the next decade or two."
The council leader added that he believed any money saved by building at Telford could then be put towards creating a dedicated cancer treatment unit at PRH.
Shrewsbury Town Council leader Councillor Alan Mosley today said Future Fit would be “the biggest thing that will happen in the county for many years”.
Councillor Mosley said: “I would prefer that both A&E departments in Shrewsbury and Telford become fully equipped emergency centres.
“However it is clear that there will be only two options in the Future Fit consultation so I would urge residents to support option one, which will see RSH become the county’s emergency centre.”
