Ludlow hospital campaigners: This is our only chance

Ludlow's planned £27 million new hospital was today described as a 'once in a generation opportunity' to improve care for people living in south Shropshire.

Health professionals believe the hospital, planned for Ludlow Eco Business Park, would be a 'tremendous prize' for the area.

It would increase the number of outpatients treated at the town's hospital from 3,000 a year to more than 20,000.

• See more pictures in our gallery to your right

They also insist the new hospital will offer minor surgery, dialysis, chemotherapy and blood transfusions, for all of which patients currently need to travel to hospitals in Shrewsbury, Telford, Hereford and Worcester.

The claim has been made ahead of a crunch public meeting in Ludlow tonight amid fears a campaign to keep a doctor's surgery in the town centre could stop the new hospital from being built.

The meeting has been organised by the Save A Ludlow Town Surgery (Salt) group, which has collected more than 1,200 signatures calling for a surgery to be retained in the town centre.

Under the plans, the Portcullis and Station Drive surgeries will close and relocate to the new hospital site.

Campaigners claim elderly and vulnerable people will struggle to reach doctors if they are based at the new hospital on the outskirts of the town and their petition will be presented at 10 Downing Street by comedienne Jo Brand and her mother Joyce, who is leading the Salts campaign.

But Ludlow MP Philip Dunne, Shropshire County Primary Care Trust and Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust, town councillors and doctors at the surgeries have called on supporters of the hospital to attend tonight's meeting at Ludlow Mascall Centre to show the strength of local feeling.

Planning permission has been granted but the issue must be discussed by the Strategic Planning Authority in May, and those leading the hospital project claim the scheme will only be supported if it caters for all aspects of local healthcare on one site.

The new hospital will replace the community hospital at Gravel Hill, which is considered no longer fit for purpose and too exp- ensive to bring up to modern standards.

Jo Chambers, chief executive of Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust, said: "We have a unique opportunity to provide local health services for Ludlow and south west Shropshire in a way that could not have been imagined just a few years ago.

"The innovative approach to developing integrated services, bringing together primary care, community care, hospital services and access to social care and voluntary groups is an outstanding example of what can be achieved when people pull together."

PCT deputy chief executive Dr Leigh Griffin, said: "While the NHS faces many competing challenges, I am delighted at the progress made in shaping plans for first class, integrated health care for the people of Ludlow and south west Shropshire. While these plans await final assessment and approval, a tremendous prize is now within our reach."

Dr Dorian Yarham, of Portcullis Surgery, said: "As GPs who want to provide the best possible care to local patients, we simply cannot carry on working in our current premises in the foreseeable future.

"We have looked for many years to find a suitable town centre location but we haven't been successful. The opportunity to move to the new development on the Eco Park is an excellent alternative and one that we cannot miss."

He added: "If the two GP practices do not move to the new hospital site, then Ludlow will not get a new hospital at all."

Salts chairman Joyce Brand said: "We are not trying trying to derail the hospital project. But what we discovered from last week's meeting of

Ludlow Health Forum is that the decision surrounding the GPs' move to the Eco Park is nothing to do with the viability of the hospital.

"It is a business decision based on the doctors' view of whether it would be a good business venture to provide a service in the town centre. It has really clarified the situation for us as we had never previously had it explained why the doctors would not have a surgery in the town centre."

The new hospital would have 36 inpatient beds and bring hospital and GP services together under one roof.

The number of outpatients treated each year is expected to be 20,450 for 2014/15, according to the planning policy for the hospital. The current hospital's figure is 3,103.

New treatments will be made available to patients. There are 2,496 cases of dialysis projected at the new hospital for 2014/15 and 695 chemotherapy. These treatments are not available in Ludlow at the moment and people have to travel to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford, Worcestershire Royal Hospital or Hereford County Hospital.

It is hoped doctors and GPs will be able to work together more closely on specific cases due to being based on the same site.

Doctors at the Portcullis and Station Drive surgeries say the relocation will enable them to improve the services they offer, but Salts campaigners believe it would have a major impact on elderly, disabled and vulnerable patients. Tonight's meeting at Ludlow Mascall Centre on Lower Galdeford will start at 7pm.