Shropshire health bosses deny insufficient information provided for Future Fit consultation

Bosses at Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin Clinical Commissioning Groups claim 'sufficient information' was provided for people to have an informed opinion.

A letter was sent to the CCGs, on behalf of Labour parties across Shropshire and Montgomeryshire, saying there was a lack of information surrounding transport, finances and who will run the urgent care centres.

Chairman of The Wrekin Labour Party branch, Peter Bradley, said there had been no answers provided about the effect the proposals will have on ambulance services and if there will be changes to public transport to improve access to the county’s hospitals.

In a letter of response, Dr Simon Freeman, accountable officer for Shropshire CCG, and David Evans, chief officer at Telford & Wrekin CCG, said previous work within the Future Fit programme had looked at any increased risks related to travel times.

The letter said journey times and distance had been properly considered to come up with the two options which were consulted on.

It said a travel and transport group had been set up to look at the issues, and the Future Fit programme had engaged fully with West Midlands and Welsh Ambulance Services and the Welsh Emergency Medical Retrieval and Transfer Service in its decision making processes.

Bosses said the West Midlands Clinical Senate recommended in November 2016 that a 'full modelling exercise' should be carried out by the ambulance services to consider the impact Future Fit will bring.

A final report is due on October 8.

The information is expected to be considered when making the final decision, which is due to happen by February.

The letter from health bosses says the money the scheme will receive depends on which option is approved, but both options have passed the clinical and affordability tests of NHS England and NHS Improvement.

Risk

Speaking about the urgent care centres, which would be set up at both Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Princess Royal Hospital in Telford, CCG bosses said: "If we go out to the market and issue a tender as our chosen procurement option, then Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust or any other NHS provider can bid for the service, and we would hope that they would.

"We currently have an incumbent provider who could reasonably bid to provide the urgent care centres, but there are others in the market that could similarly provide this type of service.

"So, simply to award the service to an NHS provider would carry significant risk of legal challenge."

The letter continued: "We do believe that we have provided sufficient information for the public to have an informed opinion."

But Mr Bradley says it is "not good enough" that information on how ambulance services are expected to cope was not available during the public consultation.

He added: "The Government should have stepped in and suspended Future Fit months ago.

"It should certainly do so now. The communities of Shropshire and Mid Wales need an NHS properly designed and funded to meet their needs now and for the next generation. Future Fit is simply not that plan.”

The Future Fit plans include having a single emergency centre for the county at either RSH or PRH.

The public consultation ended earlier this month.