Telford health bosses delay decision on A&E plans to get more information
Health bosses in Telford say they cannot support plans to reorganise A&E services in Shropshire until they receive more information on the impact it will have on emergency medicine.
Members of Telford's clinical commissioning group board delayed a decision on whether to support the review.
They say they cannot support the Future Fit plans until they receive reassurances.
At an extraordinary meeting, members agreed to hold off on a decision until the next joint meeting of both Telford and Shropshire CCGs.
The meeting was held for members of the CCG, the body responsible for organising health services.
They were asked to make a decision on the strategic outline case (SOC) put forward by Future Fit, the body putting together a plan for Shropshire's A&E provision in the future.
The Future Fit plan will almost certainly recommend the closure of one A&E unit, at either Telford's Princess Royal Hospital or Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.
But CCG members meeting at Telford's Holiday Inn felt the outline case still did not have enough information, and deferred throwing their support behind the plans until they had more information on how acute medicine would work, how the community fit project would work and how that would work within the financial deficit recovery plan.
David Evans, chief officer of both Telford & Wrekin and Shropshire's CCG groups, said any letter of support would be redrafted to outline what areas the two groups want developed in the outline business case for Future Fit.
Fran Beck, the board's commissioning executive lead, said: "We are not in a position to sign off the SOC. We need to clarify what extra detail we need."
Mr Evans added: "We need to get the extra detail we need to be able to sign off but we also need to be mindful that we are working to a timeline and any significant delay will delay the whole process.
"We have already faced public and political criticism for the delay and how much has been spent so far. We do need to be mindful of what detail we actually need."
The meeting was also attended by concerned members of the public, who urged the board to continue to consider other options.
The Strategic Outline Case has already faced opposition from GPs working across Shropshire, with the Local Medical Committee describing the plans as being "naive to the point of being dangerous".
The group has claimed that reliance on urgent care centres if an A&E department closes would put enormous pressure on NHS services that are already struggling.
The Shropshire Patient Group has also said that there needs to be more consultation with the public on the plans going forward.
