Future Fit: Transport fears over hospital change plan
Fears over public transport and cost cutting were the main worries of people attending the latest public consultation on the future of NHS services in Shropshire.
The consultation drop-in at Cabin Lane Church in Oswestry saw a steady stream of people who wanted to find out more about the proposals.
The preferred option of the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust is to close the accident and emergency centres at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and the Princess Royal Hospital, Telford.
Instead there would be one emergency centre at the RSH with planned care at the PRH and two urgent care centres at both hospitals.
Marilyn Jones, who lives in Oswestry, said moving the planned care to Telford was worrying.
“I think they should leave it as it is or have one new, big hospital midway between the two,” she said.
“I have an 84-year-old mother who has been in and out of hospital for a couple of years now. I don’t drive and, while my mum can use the ambulance transport, if I visit her as I do I have to use two buses to get from Oswestry to the Royal Shrewsbury.
“I have absolutely no idea how many buses I would have to take to get to Telford. They have told me that they are looking at running shuttle buses.”
“The staff do an incredible job, they are wonderful but they are under incredible pressure.”
Mark Cheetham, SaTH’s medical director for scheduled care, said he saw planned care under one roof as a positive move.
“With planned and emergency care in separate hospitals it will mean that there will be far less chance of people having their operations cancelled at the last minute,” he said.
“There will be better patient experience and also a lower risk of infection.”
He said some major planned care such as vascular surgery and some cancer surgery would still be on the emergency care site as it needed to be near emergency care services.
