Councillors welcome approval of hospital plans

Councillors from Shropshire Council and Telford and Wrekin Council have welcomed the announcement that a £35m plan to secure hospital services for the future has been given the go-ahead. 

The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust’s Full Business Case, a detailed plan outlining how it will reconfigure its hospital services, was reviewed and approved by the Board of the regional health authority on 24 May 2012. 

Shropshire Councillor Gerald Dakin, co-chairman of the Joint Health and Overview Scrutiny Committee, said:

“We have scrutinised the plans from the outset to ensure they offer the right solution for our communities. 

“Our role is to hold the NHS to account when major changes to local health services are planned or proposed.  As local councillors from Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin, working with co-opted members who represent the interests of local patients and communities, we call NHS clinicians and managers to our meetings to explain their plans and answer our questions, which are based on the issues raised with us by local residents. 

“The trust responded to our challenges to show that the plans are the best option for protecting and enhancing hospital services in the county and we approved the business case in April. 

“This final approval by the regional health authority places the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust in a good position to offer high quality, safe and sustainable services to patients and families for years to come. 

“It will see the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital becoming a designated Trauma Unit and centre for AAA* screening thanks to it being made the main centre for inpatient acute surgery in the county. 

“This is a vital and extremely valuable new resource for Shropshire’s emergency healthcare.  The unit will be part of a wider trauma care network and means patients can be taken directly to a major trauma centre if they require the most urgent specialist care, or to a trauma unit where they will be received by a consultant-led team for resuscitation, and then either treated there or transferred as their condition dictates. 

“However, our role in scrutinising the plans will not end here.  We will not shirk from holding the NHS to account to continue to ensure that local patients benefit from safe and sustainable services.” 

Telford and Wrekin Councillor Derek White, co-chairman of the Joint Health and Overview Scrutiny Committee, added:

“We are obviously delighted that we have reached the stage where the Full Business Case has been approved.  This is very important news for the Princess Royal Hospital and we look forward to the creation of the new Women and Children Unit as part of the reconfiguration of health services in both Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin.” 

For more information about the plans click here.

*Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm