Shropshire Star

Telford eye patients fear services ‘drifting away' to Shrewsbury

Patients in Telford fear the planned closure of the town’s cataract treatment centre is a sign that services are “drifting away” to Shrewsbury, a senior councillor has warned.

Published

Presenting the planned shake-up of Shropshire’s ophthalmology facilities, surgeon Tony Fox insisted it was unconnected to Future Fit, but admitted: “I understand why people would think that.”

Mr Fox, who is a deputy medical director with the hospital trust, said Euston House in Telford lacked space and equipment to treat patients swiftly and effectively.

Closing it, he said, was a necessary measure to help “salvage” ophthalmology in Shropshire, and it couldn’t afford to wait until the Future Fit reorganisation was completed.

The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust current provides eye diagnosis and treatment services across its two main hospitals and at Euston House.

Mr Fox’s report proposed winding up outpatient services there, moving them into the two main hospitals and transferring all cataract surgery to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.

He presented the document to the joint Shropshire/Telford and Wrekin Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Andy Burford, a member of Telford and Wrekin Council who co-chairs the committee, said: “I understand that full centralisation is not on the agenda at the moment, but, on the subject of Future Fit, if the preferred option goes through, one assumes that the Princess Royal Hospital becomes the centre for planned care.”

Future Fit is a plan to carry out emergency and planned care at separate hospitals. Under option one – the CCGs’ “preferred option” – the single emergency centre would be based at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital while planned care would take place at the Princess Royal Hospital, in Telford.

Under option two the roles would be reversed.

Discussions

Councillor Burford asked Mr Fox: “Does that affect how you would then see ophthalmology service provision?”

Mr Fox said: “The work that has been done is not part of Future Fit.

“I think, if you do start to redesign both sites, there are discussions to be had. I wouldn’t want to hypothesise about the future.”

Councillor Burford said: “From a Telford and Wrekin perspective, you would understand the concern that we have.

“The ‘drift’ is concerning when you link it with the likely outcome of Future Fit.”

Mr Fox said: “Everyone who has worked on this understands why people would think that.

But he added that the plans described in his report were part of a years-long project to “salvage” the “unfit” ophthalmology department.

“Frankly, if we had waited for Future Fit, we would have lost a lot of that work out of county,” he said.

Mr Fox said there had already been improvements in provision, including a dramatic drop in the number of patients waiting longer than recommended for treatment.

In 2016, around 3,500 patients went past their recommended maximum waiting time, compared to fewer than 1,000 last year.

By Alex Moore, local democracy reporter