Cross-border patients are missing out, claim

Members of Powys County Council's Montgomeryshire committee and Dr Caron Morton, accountable officer for the Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), said it was vital patients from the Welsh side of the border were treated equally.

Dr Morton met with councillors in Welshpool to discuss the Future Fit programme which looks at the future of hospital services provided by Shrewsbury & Telford Hospital NHS Trust and Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust.

Dr Morton said she had heard numerous stories of Welsh patients missing out on vital treatment due to their addresses. She said she would work with patients and councillors in a bid to ensure every patient is treated equally under plans to shake-up the health service in the area.

She told members of the council's Montgomeryshire Committee: "There's trouble with patients accessing services from Powys and the border and that will be looked at. This is especially the case in equality. I am still regularly told stories where Welsh patients being treated in England are told 'you don't pay your bills, you get a different experience here' and to be honest it is surprising and shocking.

"I am told this is still happening and in my opinion as a GP with 17 years experience it is totally unacceptable. When I treat a patient, I don't think 'this person is from Wales, they can't have access to certain drugs' I want them to be treated as I would treat any other patient."

Dr Morton also said the lack of Minor Injuries Units in Mid Wales also made things more difficult for the area.

Councillor Ann Holloway, county and town councillor for Welshpool, said: "I appreciate you coming here to speak to us and I agree completely with what you have said. I am tired of Welsh patients being treated like second class citizens by hospitals on the Shropshire side of the border.

"I have experienced it myself and I have heard many others complaining. We do not get the same service and I am very unhappy."

Future Fit, the programme to reconfigure all health services in Shropshire, is led by a group of health professionals including doctors, nurses, community health teams and support staff.

The Future Fit board has now agreed that formal consultation would start after the general election in May next year. It had been planned to start in January and end before the election to prevent the issue becoming a political football, but board members agreed to put it back to ensure all information would be available.