I won't stand by as hospitals fall apart - Chief executive of Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust

Chief executive of Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, Simon Wright, has written an open letter to Shropshire Star readers explaining why there is a need for radical change.

Mr Wright said he "cannot stand by and watch" as Shropshire's hospitals lose out on "funding opportunities, exciting new services and investment".

The only way to ensure sound NHS services remain in the county and the best staff are recruited and retained is to go ahead with controversial plans to close one of its two A&E units, he says.

• Read Mr Wright's full open letter here

Mr Wright, who took up his post in September following the retirement of Peter Herring, said the county's two ageing A&E departments were making it difficult to recruit staff.

He also said that the county's acute surgery and stroke services could be lost unless they could be brought together on a single site.

"If we lost them, it is very unlikely we would ever see them return," he added.

Mr Wright said the debate about whether to merge the emergency units at Telford's Princess Royal Hospital and the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital had been going on for decades because there was no easy solution to the problem.

But he said the delay in making a decision was hampering the hospitals' ability to provide the best possible services.

"For too long . . . this question has prevented the system from moving forward together to realise this much-needed investment," he said.

"Our population is losing out on opportunities to retain services in the county and build new services and introduce technologies and partnerships that will make us stronger and more able to deliver great care and support to our population to live well and age well. A single site for the county's emergency department is the best way to ensure we continue to attract the best doctors and nurses, have facilities which are ready for the 21st century, preventing the expansion in patients having to leave our communities and access this often lifesaving care in Staffordshire, Birmingham and beyond."

He said one of the problems with the present split-site arrangement was that it meant doctors had to do more night shifts than they would if there was a single A&E unit, meaning it was more difficult to persuade them to come to work in the county.

Mr Wright said in the meantime the trust would continue to invest in the Telford and Shrewsbury hospitals to ensure they offered the best services possible. We are investing £500,000 in the Princess Royal accident and emergency department today and will continue to support both units until the single site is available," he said.

But Mr Wright added that the current buildings dated back to the 1970s and 80s, and were very different in layout compared to what was expected today."

Mr Wright said that at the moment anyone living in Shropshire or Mid Wales was already taken out of the county to regionally specialised hospitals for the most severe injuries. This could be to Wolverhampton following a heart attack, to Stoke following a major car crash or to Birmingham if your child is critically ill," he said.

"It is absolutely right that complex treatments and services should be provided in regional specialist centres that bring together all the right people and technology to give us the best chances of a full recovery."

But he added that alongside the regional specialist centres there was also a need for district general hospitals, and these would have to adapt to the way health care was changing.