Shropshire hospital staff 'desperate' for Future Fit changes to go ahead
There is a "desperation" among staff at Shropshire's major hospitals for work on Future Fit plans to start, board members have been told.
At its board meeting on Thursday, Shrewsbury & Telford Hospital NHS Trust welcomed progress on its plans to reorganise both Princess Royal Hospital (PRH) in Telford, and Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (RSH).
The project hit a major milestone in recent weeks when the Government and the NHS approved the Strategic Outline Case for the plan.
Under the Future Fit plans, RSH will become the county's main A&E, and will also be home to consultant-led women and children's services, which move over from PRH.
PRH will become the centre for planned care.
Today the trust's chief operating officer, Nigel Lee, told the board they would now look to press ahead urgently with the next stage – the outline business case (OBC), which is targeted for submission with government by April next year.
He said: "We are absolutely delighted we have been able to move to the next stage.
"It is an exciting and vital step to make but also the opportunity for our clinical teams to move to the next part of detailed work."
Mr Lee said the focus would be now be on putting together the OBC.
He said: "We will be working extremely hard on the OBC phase. It is extensive, it is significant as a programme of work involving a whole range of teams in the organisation."
Professor Clive Deadman, a non-executive director on the trust's board, said that staff wanted to see progress on the project – which has faced years of delays.
He said: "At my first interview for the role, at the time the chairman was particularly telling me we had won £312m for the project – it is nearly seven years on and it is nice to see we are making progress."
He told how he had visited staff recently, adding: "I was reminded how desperate many of our clinical leaders are for this project.
"We have been living with this for so long but there is a real feeling of desperation."
He added: "There is a range of feelings from excitement that it is getting closer, to exhaustion that it always seems a decade away."
In a statement ,Nicholas White, chief medical officer for Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin Integrated Care System, said the changes were vital.
He said: "Without the essential changes in the Future Fit reconfiguration it will become increasingly difficult to sustain our services, so we need to make progress now. Delivering these changes is a vital part of our ambition to support all our residents to live healthier, happier and longer lives.”
Dr John Jones, executive medical director (acting) at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, said: “These changes will improve care for all of our residents. The changes involve redesigning our services to make the most of our hospital sites, bringing together our clinical teams and adding substantial new facilities where most needed.
“All our communities will benefit from dedicated planned care facilities that will lead to fewer cancellations and delays for operations, shorter waiting times and a better patient experience.
“Everyone will benefit from a new emergency department and 24/7 enhanced urgent care services leading to better health outcomes, more rapid diagnosis, shorter waits and an improved experience.”
