Future Fit: Business case to be discussed by councillors
Councillors will be given a look at the initial business case to reorganise hospital services in Shropshire at a meeting next week.
Representatives from Shropshire Council and Telford & Wrekin Council will meet on Monday at a joint health overview and scrutiny committee, where they will see a pre-consultation business case on Future Fit.
The case outlines which services will be delivered where and reiterates the preferred option.
But it says about 103,000 patients will still be seen at their closest hospital.
The Future Fit programme, which has been running for three years, has recommended the downgrade A&E services at Telford's Princess Royal Hospital in favour of one emergency and trauma department based at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.
Proposals include a new emergency centre and consultant led women and children’s services at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, while planned care would be based at Telford, which would also have an urgent care centre dealing with the majority of cases that would normally be seen at A&E.
Clinicians working at the hospitals have previously said that "doing nothing is not an option" and that services need to be changed to make the hospitals sustainable for the future.
Staffing levels at the hospitals also remain a problem and it is hoped that the changes will make it easier to recruit and retain staff.
Telford & Wrekin Council has objected to the preferred option and called for an independent review into the decision making, but that returned no serious issues with the preferred option.
The business case aims to "make the case for changing acute hospital services in Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin, describe the future model of care and how it has been developed; give detail of the pre consultation engagement that has been undertaken with the public, clinicians, staff and other stakeholders in developing the proposed model of care; and make the case to commence a formal public consultation process".
Members will also see a copy of the consultation documents that will be given to people who want to have their say on the plans.
A public consultation on the proposals is due to start in October.
The Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) have sponsored the preparation of the Pre-Consultation Business Case (PCBC) and have approved it for submission to NHS England for final assurance.
At the meeting in the Sovereign Suite at Shrewsbury Town Football Cub on Monday, members will be asked to consider the report.
They will also be given an update on the fragility and sustainability of clinical services provided by Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, including accident and emergency, opthalmology, neurology, dermotology, and spinal service.
There will also be an update on progress made on the Care Quality Commission's report on the situation at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital's NHS Trust.
The CQC's report, published in August, showed that the trust was still under "requires improvement", though progress was being made an the majority of its services were seen as "good".
