Politicians split over Shropshire CCG merger plans
Politicians in the county are split over the prospect of a merger between Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin Clinical Commissioning groups.
The governing bodies of both groups will meet this month to decide whether to proceed with the plan, which is designed to cut costs by 20 per cent.
If given approval it could be in place from April 1 next year.
Telford MP Lucy Allan has warned that a merger would risk aggravating health inequalities in the town she represents, while Shrewsbury & Atcham MP Daniel Kawczynski has hailed the benefits of the proposal and called for other services, such as the county's two unitary authorities, to combine.
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Ms Allan said: "Local health bosses have time and again failed to recognise the differing health needs of Telford and Shropshire and a combined CCG will only aggravate this problem. The council must bring pressure to bear on local decision makers to stop this merger.
"Telford has a very different demographic and poorer health outcomes by every measure. Despite this, we continue to see greater investment into Shrewsbury than we do into Telford.
"Health bodies have a statutory duty to narrow health inequalities and we must ensure that our local health bodies do discharge this duty. A combined CCG will fail to meet the needs of disparate areas."
Mr Kawczynski said that the merger should be a first step in uniting services in the county, and that Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin councils should follow suit by combining.
Barrier
He said: "I welcome the move very much so. We need one CCG, one hospital, and ultimately one council.
"We are one county and I have seen over the last 14 years as an MP, countless times where Shropshire has potentially lost out because we are disunited.
"There is a barrier between Shropshire and Telford. It's like the east and west Berlin situation to some degree.
"If you add up all of the duplication of services, I would be fascinated to see how local taxpayers would react to seeing just how much money is wasted."
North Shropshire's Conservative MP Owen Paterson also gave the plan his support.
He said: "I am strongly in favour. They work very closely together already.
"You want one organisation driving healthcare across Shropshire, rather than having the endless competition between Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin.
"You have got to have an all-Shropshire view and there must be some savings in it."
Telford & Wrekin Councillor Andy Burford, who represents Dawley and Aqueduct, and was a chair of the authority's scrutiny committee on health and adult social care up until last week's election, said a merger would mean less focus on the different healthcare needs of Telford's urban population.
He said: "We are very wary when it comes to Telford's voice getting lost in the wider Shropshire view for obvious reasons.
"We are a growing urban area and have our own needs, with relatively high levels of poverty, and all that goes with being a big town."
He added: "It just seems to us that this is yet again Telford getting squeezed out."
