Shropshire hospital shake-up could cut travel times, say bosses

Major changes to where A&E, urgent care and planned treatment departments are located will "make sure most care is closer to home" and "reduce the need to travel to distant locations".

The aims of the NHS Future Fit programme to transform services at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford were outlined by David Evans, chief officer of Telford & Wrekin Clinical Commissioning Group.

He said the shake-up would also "create networks of care" and "ensure no clinician has to work in isolation".

Emergency Centre, providing A&E

Accident and Emergency as people would recognise it today.

The centre would specialise in emergency treatment for seriously-ill or injured patients who need immediate care in order to save life or limb.

Most options put forward suggest a single Emergency Centre for the county, where a world-class A&E unit would be created.

Patients would be discouraged from attending the centre unless their problem was serious, directed to other health services instead.

Urgent Care Centre for walk-in patients

Specialising in urgent care – but for patients whose conditions or injuries are deemed non-life threatening.

People with minor illness or injury but who feel they need immediate treatment would be encouraged to attend the Urgent Care Centres.

The system would be similar to the current network of NHS walk-in centres. They would serve people in rural areas but also be created in Telford and Shrewsbury in an effort to discourage people from attending the A&E Emergency Centre where the most seriously ill will be dealt with.

Diagnostic and Treatment Centre

For pre-planned procedures. This could range from an x-ray to an MRI scan.

The Diagnostic and Treatment Centre would include pre-planned operations, from minor procedures to full surgery.

Options for the future of some departments at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, The Princess Royal Hospital in Telford and a new unnamed location thought to be between the two will be considered by the NHS Future Fit Board.

Members will also look at plans to create a prototype of four urgent care centres across the county for patients with minor illness or injuries that require same-day treatment.

One would be in Telford, another in Shrewsbury and two in the county's rural areas either in Oswestry, Whitchurch, Ludlow or Bridgnorth.

Dr Caron Morton, chief accountable officer for Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group said: "It does not necessarily mean there will be four in the end but there will be four prototypes to help us understand staffing, usage, how easy they are to access , how many we need and where they need to be located. It would make sense if there was one in the north and one in the south. These centres would be co-located with existing community hospitals unless one is in Oswestry, in which case it would be the Primary Care Centre."

She said another factor the board would consider was whether the women and children's unit would follow the emergency care centre or remain at the Princess Royal Hospital.

Dr Morton said there could be more patients from mid Wales using the hospital services in Shropshire.

"It will draw more patients from across the border because it's a new facility," she said. "Part of what we need to do is work alongside the commissioners in Powys and see how that works. But for GPs in areas like Ludlow or Bishops Castle they do see these patients already so they already see them as part of their patient population."

Mr Evans said the enormous demand over Christmas further confirmed the need to transform hospital services.

He said: "There has been a consensus for over 20 years that things need to change if we are to meet the increasing needs on the local NHS. Our local public agreed with this when we held the Call to Action consultation conference in Autumn 2013."

He added: "The shortlist has been approved by an expert evaluation panel. This consisted of representatives of organisations across the local health economy, patient representatives and local authority representatives.

They considered issues including quality, accessibility, workforce, deliverability and affordability.

"The shortlisting follows the publication of a long list of scenarios last year which has been the subject of public engagement."

The programme board of NHS Future Fit will meet on Wednesday (February 4) to consider the recommended shortlist and the urgent care centres prototype.

An announcement of preferred options was expected around summer 2015.

People can have their say on all the options at 'pop-up shops' at Telford Shopping Centre on Friday, February 20 and Saturday, February 21 between 9am and 6pm. And at the Darwin Shopping Centre in Shrewsbury on Friday, February 27 and Saturday, February 28 between 9am and 6pm.