Labour party officials reject Tory MP's call to back hospital plans
County Labour Party officials have rejected calls from an MP to back plans for the reorganisation of the Shropshire's major hospitals by saying the are "designed to cut costs".
Shrewsbury & Atcham Constituency Labour Party (CLP) has sent a reply to Shrewsbury & Atcham's Conservative MP, Daniel Kawczynski, over his call for them to join forces and back the Future Fit plans for Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Princess Royal Hospital in Telford.
The proposals, also known as the 'hospitals transformation process' (HTP) would see a major shake-up of the county's hospital services – with RSH becoming the county's only 24-hour A&E, as well as taking on consultant-led women and children's services from PRH.
PRH would become the centre for planned care, and both sites would have urgent care centres, along with Telford also having and 'A&E Local'.
The plans, which have faced a succession of delays, took a major step forward last month with the Government and the NHS approving a strategic outline case (SOC) for the proposal.
In his reply to Mr Kawczynski, Paul Forrest, chairman of Shrewsbury & Atcham CLP, said they still believed both hospitals should retain fully working A&Es.
He has also called for health chiefs to make the approved SOC public, so people can see the detail of what is planned.
Mr Forrest said: "Future Fit is not a programme to improve our services but one designed to cut costs and the deficit our hospitals currently have.
"The plan to axe the Princess Royal’s A&E will involve less A&E provision across the county and Mid Wales, which will have a serious negative effect on all those who currently use Shrewsbury hospital.
"Starving community health services of funding is also adding pressure to our A&E services. We believe we should keep our two local A&Es and ensure that there is sufficient funding for other health services in the county.”
In his response Mr Forrest has called for a meeting between the CLP's health group, Labour leader of Telford & Wrekin Council Shaun Davies, Mr Kawczynski, and Telford Conservative MP Lucy Allan.
Mr Forrest added: "We hope that the Strategic Outline Case (SOC) entitled ‘Transforming the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and The Princess Royal Hospital’ is made public soon.
"We are aware that the Future Fit plans have had to be scaled back, due to a lack of funding.
"Accordingly, we are currently being asked to support something for which we do not know what the currently planned final form will actually be, and for which it now appears there is insufficient funding available to complete.
"We support effective change and modernisation, but only when it leads to improved patient outcomes.
"People are struggling to access GP services and social care; ambulances are continually queuing up and waiting times escalating in Shrewsbury – Salopians are actually dying as a result of this. These problems need to be tackled immediately, we cannot afford to wait years for a project whose impact is questionable and delivery is far from certain."
Health bosses have hailed the plans as vital for the needs of the people of the county and Mid Wales.
Nicholas White, Chief Medical Officer for NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Integrated Care System, said: “Delivering HTP will play a significant part in enabling our health and care services to meet the needs of our population, now and in the future.
"This investment will enable us to raise standards, meaning if people do need to access hospital services, they receive the best care possible.”
