Public to have say on rural health services in Shropshire

A new team will look at the future of urgent care in more rural areas after health bosses behind the NHS Future Fit review of services decided each community should be looked at on a case-by-case basis.

The new Future Fit Rural Urgent Care Centre steering group, chaired by Andrew Ferguson, will hold a series of "workshops" around the county during June to discuss what is needed and what form services might take.

Outside of the county's acute hospitals at Shrewsbury and Telford, Shropshire is served by four community hospitals at Bishop's Castle, Bridgnorth, Ludlow and Whitchurch, along with a minor injuries unit in Oswestry town centre.

Before March it was proposed only two new urgent care centres would be created outside Shrewsbury and Telford, leading to fears the community hospitals would have to fight it out over who should get them – and services such as minor injuries units may be lost.

But after pledging to go back to each community and look at how tailoring services to each area, progress is being made, says Jan Ditheridge, chief executive of Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust.

She said: "This is an important piece of work that will be undertaken working with the localities that surround each of our community hospitals and Oswestry minor injury unit.

"The first locality meeting will be taking place in June and the whole programme is intended to report its conclusions in September."

ShropCom's board, which oversees the four community hospitals, is due to hear more from Future Fit bosses when it meets at Ludlow's Mascall Centre tomorrow.

Mrs Ditheridge said: "They're in the process of working out what urgent care centres should be, and we will be involved in that. Hopefully they will be central to the community hospital buildings. But what's important is that we understand what community services will look like."

She said while plans for urgent care and the future of A&E services in Telford and Shrewsbury were more headline grabbing, from ShropCom's perspective everyday community services were as, if not more, important.

"Most people don't spend most of their lives in crisis – but do need long-term attention, especially as they get older whether it's from their GP, or community nurse. Social care support needs to be out there in the community," she said.