Oswestry campaigners form new NHS pressure group

Oswestry Defend our NHS says it will be campaigning over a number of issues from keeping a full maternity service at the Robert Jones and Orthopaedic Hospital to ensuring there are enough GPs in the area.

It comes as figures show a patient at the hospital waited 324 days to be released from hospital – one of the longest delays in the country. The paralysed patient was awaiting care at home.

The group is affiliated to the Shropshire campaign and is headed up by Neil Graham, from St Martins, and Barry Edwards, from Oswestry. The co-chairmen said the group would welcome more members.

Among the items it will campaign on will be to keep A&E centres at both Shrewsbury and Telford and to end the Future Fit consultation which the group says, has seen over £3 million spent on consulting rather than patient care.

Commenting on the recent announcement that the proposals for A&E services are to be considered by yet another independent review they said: "The people of Oswestry will be appalled to hear that even further public money is to be wasted on reviews and consultations.

"Future Fit has already wasted over £3 million that could, and should, have been spent on patient care.

"It's time to call an end to it and to end the divisive proposals that have pitted the residents of Shropshire against Telford.

"We don't need to choose which A&E survives – we need to keep them both."

The group has published a leaflet which also sets out a pledge that it will campaign to ensure that a full maternity service is maintained at the Orthopaedic Hospital in Gobowen and the financial viability of the hospital is not undermined by changes to tariff payments for hip and other surgery.

It added: "The group opposes privatisation of health care services and is to ask candidates for the Shropshire Unitary Council elections in May to pledge their support for the NHS."

Oswestry Defend our NHS meeting in the Bailey Head pub on the first Tuesday of the month at 7.30pm.

Beverley Tabernacle, director of nursing at the hospital, said: "It is unfortunate when a patient suffers a delay in the transfer of their care out of a hospital setting, and there can be many reasons why that can happen. This case relates to a spinal injury patient, whose needs were complex and challenging. The individual made great progress in the care of our spinal injuries team and was assessed as being fit to go home in late 2015.

"However, this was dependent on an appropriate care package being in place, and during this time the patient's needs were constantly evolving, requiring further assessment."