Shropshire Star

MP steps up campaign for Shropshire hospital shake-up

An MP has pledged to table three parliamentary questions every day until a controversial shake-up of Shropshire's hospitals is given the go-ahead.

Published
Last updated
Daniel Kawczynski

Daniel Kawczynski said he would also be taking a delegation of senior hospital consultants to meet Health Secretary Matt Hancock in a bid to break the deadlock over the Future Fit hospital reorganisation. The scheme would see Shrewsbury become the sole centre for round-the-clock emergency services, with Telford's Princess Royal Hospital redeveloped to focus on planned care.

Mr Kawczynski, MP for Shrewsbury and Atcham, said the town's hospital had now reached a 'tipping point' where it could no longer cope with the volume of patients it was being expected to handle, and the investment was needed immediately.

He said Health Secretary Matt Hancock had agreed to a meeting between himself and a delegation of senior consultants from Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust.

Mr Kawczynski has been in a long-running dispute with Telford & Wrekin Council, which has objected to the loss of the 24-hour A & E at Telford's Princess Royal Hospital.

He said he had been told the new unit could have been built by now had it not been for the delays to the scheme.

Among the clinicians who attending the meeting with Mr Hancock will be Mark Cheetham, who has been a long-time supporter of the Future Fit scheme.

But it was revealed on Boxing Day that the cost of the scheme could have soared from the £312 million originally earmarked to £498 million.

Mr Kawczynski said he would also lobby the Government for extra funding if it was found to be necessary.

Mark Cheetham

Before Christmas Mr Kawczynski tabled 10 parliamentary questions to Mr Hancock regarding the hospital trust.

"I am on notice to say we have reached a tipping point where there will be safety issues if these issues are not resolved," he said.

"I will table three parliamentary questions every day until of the new session until this matter is resolved."

He said the debate about the future of hospital services in the county had been going on for more than six years, and the changes could not be delayed any longer.

He said senior clinicians had told him the investment was urgently needed to bring services up to standard.

The need to reorganise the county's hospital services was first identified in 2013. Following a consultation in the summer of 2018, health bosses concluded that a single, enlarged A & E centre at Royal Shrewsbury should replace the separate emergency units at the Shrewsbury and Telford hospitals.

But the scheme was further delayed last year when it was called in for independent review by Mr Hancock at the request of Telford and Wrekin Council and Wrekin MP Mark Pritchard.