Shropshire Star

Almost 10,000 share views on Future Fit - have you had your say?

More than 9,300 surveys have now been filled in by people leaving feedback on the Future Fit proposals.

Published
More than 9,300 Future Fit surveys have been filled out so far

Pam Schreier, who is the communications and engagement lead for the Future Fit programme, said it accounted for nearly two per cent of the population served by Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Telford's Princess Royal Hospital.

She told a recent meeting of Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin Council's joint health overview and scrutiny committee: "Normally we would expect to see a spike in the second half of the consultation and particularly near the end."

She said the average UK response rate to a public consultation was 0.7 per cent.

During the consultation, public exhibition events have allowed people to speak directly to clinicians and there have also been a series of pop-up displays.

Clinicians have held question and answer sessions on Twitter and people have been able to leave their feedback on the two options in the consultation by completing a survey.

The options put forward by Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin Clinical Commissioning Groups involve separating emergency and planned care.

Under the plans, there would be a single emergency centre for the county at either RSH or PRH, but health bosses have stressed it is 'not a vote'.

The way the consultation has been carried out received a mix of praise and concern from members of the public at Wednesday's scrutiny committee meeting.

David Sandbach, former chief executive of PRH, praised the use of pop-up events to make sure people were aware of the proposals, as well as the use of social media and face-to-face 'market place' events.

He said: "It seems to me that the organisers are very keen and willing to put on additional events when asked or when gaps in the process are brought to their attention."

But he said he had two 'serious concerns'.

He said: "The first is the need for open public meetings has been ignored. Our democratic process relies entirely on free speech and open transparent public debate. "Public debate on the plans has been denied us all."

He said he also had concerns over the consultation document, claiming it relied on 'propaganda techniques' and key items of information had been ignored.

Responding to his concerns over public meetings, David Evans, chief officer at Telford & Wrekin CCG, said it was felt the public exhibition events would allow more people the chance to speak directly to clinicians and managers.

The public consultation is due to run until September 11.

For more details visit nhsfuturefit.org