'Lives at risk': Shrewsbury MP Daniel Kawczynski calls for Future Fit restart
Shrewsbury MP Daniel Kawczynski has said delays caused by the coronavirus outbreak to the controversial £312 million shake-up of Shropshire's hospitals have put lives in the county at risk.
Mr Kawczynski has written to Boris Johnson asking for reassurance that work will swiftly resume on the Future Fit programme.
He said health services in the county were not 'fit for purpose' and the delays would make it harder to recruit much-needed medical staff.
The much-delayed scheme would see the Shropshire's accident and emergency provision focused on Shrewsbury, while Telford's Princess Royal Hospital would be redeveloped as a centre for planned care.
But the plans have sparked fierce opposition from campaigners who say Telford must retain its 24-hour A&E unit.
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However, Mr Kawczynski has warned that lives will be put at risk if the reconfiguration does not go ahead, saying that the county's two main hospitals, Princess Royal and Royal Shrewsbury, did not meet modern needs.
In his letter, Mr Kawzynski reminded the Prime Minister of an assurance he had given in January that: "We are indeed getting on with that job, and the Secretary of State for Health says that he will personally intervene to ensure that is done."
Mr Kawczynski said he accepted that the coronavirus pandemic meant the scheme had to be put on hold, but said that as Britain was beginning to return to normal, now was the time to restart Future Fit.
He wrote: "Future Fit is a project that has been thwarted by delay after delay, primarily due to the relevant authorities not being able to agree on the location of the emergency care centre for Shropshire.
"This further delay, albeit unavoidable, means that lives of the people of Shropshire are continuing to be put at risk by not having health care services that are fit for purpose.
"Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust will continue to have recruitment difficulties due to the uncertainty over working arrangements."
Mr Kawczynski said this week had seen a major fall in the number of coronavirus cases, and an easing of lockdown measures in England.
He asked the Prime Minister to reassure him that Health Secretary Matt Hancock would resume work to ensure that the scheme would be delivered.