Calls for new health secretary to review and reverse Future Fit plans for county's hospitals

Telford and Wrekin councillors want an urgent review and reversal of the approval of the strategic outline case for reconfiguration of the county's hospitals, saying the Government’s plan will downgrade the borough's health and social care services.

They say the Government needs to provide the necessary resources to ensure Telford & Wrekin and Shropshire has the health and social care services that its residents deserve.

Councillor Andy Burford's motion was passed at last night's full council meeting.

The Future Fit proposals would see RSH become the base for the county's only 24-hour A&E department – currently both RSH and PRH offer the service.

The PRH will have what has been described as an 'A&E Local,' while consultant-led women and children's services move from Telford to Shrewsbury, with the Telford site becoming the centre for planned care.

Councillor Burford said the "shambolic" plans to downgrade Telford’s 24/7 A&E to an "A&E Local" had been discredited by a number of clinical bodies.

"Telford would be the largest and growing town in England without a fully functional A&E," he said.

"The Government also still plans to move our consultant led Women and Children Unit from Telford, which flies in the face of recognised clinical need, the very reason why it was built in Telford.

"The cost of the Government’s downgrade plan is between £500 - £600 million, yet they have only allocated a loan of £312million, which will inevitably mean some vital services will have to be cut as a result."

Councillor Angela McClements, said there was no evidence that the changes would bring any improvement to residents.

"A&E admissions in Telford and Wrekin are higher than the national average, particularly children - this is why the Women and Children's Unit was built in Telford in the first place," she said.

Councillor Andrew Eade said a single hospital site would have been the solution for Shropshire.

Labour councillors who called for the review, quipped that the health secretary who had signed of the latest stage of the proposals was now in the jungle and that it was only right that the new health secretary look again at the plans.

Councillor Kelly Middleton said: "We don't need reconfiguration, we need a hospital that is working."