Telford MP Lucy Allan hits out at A&E decision delay

Lucy Allan, MP for Telford, also claimed that the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford would be the best location for the new A&E unit, rather than the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.

It emerged earlier this week that it could take up to seven years for a new single A&E unit at one of the county's acute hospitals to be fully operational.

Ms Allan said: "The news that patients are likely to wait about five years until Shropshire's redesigned emergency care is up and running is hugely disappointing.

"The process for deciding on the location of Shropshire's new critical care unit has been tortuous.

"The Princess Royal Hospital is the the best location for this new unit. Telford, with its rapidly growing population, good transport links and with the excellent women and children's centre already on site, makes it the obvious choice.

"Given that locating the unit at the Princess Royal would cost less and take less time to complete, it's difficult to understand why the decision is taking so long.

"The uncertainty created by this lengthy process is bad for patients and residents alike and has been a real source of concern – many people tell me they feel let down by Future Fit."

The announcement was made earlier this week in plans drawn up by Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust. The announcement also revealed that a public consultation is to run from December 2016 until March 2017.

The building work necessary to bring the critical care unit to the Princess Royal is estimated to take three years and six months costing £102 million to complete.

If the unit was to be located at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital it would take five years and nine months to complete and could cost £195 million.