Lives will be lost if Shrewsbury loses A&E - claim

Joy Jones said the extra 20 minutes travel time between the two hospitals will be the difference between life and death.

Mrs Jones, leader of Newtown Health Forum and a Powys county councillor for the town, said all major services should remain in Shrewsbury as it would benefit a greater number of people across Shropshire and Mid Wales in both emergency situations and also during visiting.

NHS bosses released the first draft of plans for Future Fit, the reorganisation of local NHS services, earlier this summer. It will be finalised next year, but provisional findings suggested one specialised emergency centre to replace the existing A&E departments in Telford and Shrewsbury, at a location to be decided.

There could also be a return to more community-based and cottage hospitals around the county to serve patients with non-life-threatening conditions.

But Mrs Jones said that is there is to be one location for A&E cover it had to be in Shrewsbury.

She said: "If the A&E is moved away from Shrewsbury lives will be lost.

"The emergency centre needs to remain in or close to Shrewsbury as this is central to the area that the Shropshire health trust services and in previous work that was done on where the trauma unit for the area should be, Shrewsbury was found to be the ideal place as it is central.

"I was told at the Future Fit drop-in session in Newtown that access to the new emergency unit will be by ambulance or through the urgent care centre only.

"They are looking at placing urgent care centres in various locations around Shropshire, but only one emergency centre as they want the way the services are delivered done in a different way.

"This will work for the people of Shropshire but people of Powys will still have to travel over the border to access these centres.

"In Newtown we have recently seen the hospital having an upgrade to its outpatient area which is being used to provide appointments to see various consultants, this is great news for patients, saving travel time to Shropshire.

"But we need this to go further as Newtown is the largest town in Powys and we have no minor injury unit in Newtown Hospital.

"We must as remember that the further the emergency centre is located from Newtown the longer ambulances will be out of area which will also lead to more problem for Powys patients too."