Telford & Wrekin Council in new call for Jeremy Hunt to intervene on Shropshire A&E

A notice of motion has been put forward for Telford & Wrekin's full council meeting.

It comes after the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust announced proposals to close Telford's Princess Royal Hospital A&E department overnight due to a shortage of consultants.

Health bosses have said the move would only be as a last resort, but councillors still say they are concerned and at the meeting on July 20 will call Mr Hunt to intervene.

It also says the council "no longer has confidence" in the management board of the hospitals trust, which also runs the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.

The motion is being put forward by Councillor Charles Smith, Labour ward member for Wrockwardine Wood and Trench.

It says: “This council notes with grave concern that SaTH are considering the overnight closure of the PRH 24/7 Accident and Emergency Service potentially from September 2017.

"We feel that this is yet again another attack on vital services provided at the PRH and appears inconsistent with previously made clinical arguments, including the location of the Women & Children’s Centre on the same site as the 24/7 A&E Unit.

"As a result of this new development and previous attempts to move crucial services away from PRH, this council no longer has confidence in SaTH’s Management Board to deliver safe and sustainable health services.

"This council further calls for health provision to be configured in such a way at the Princess Royal Hospital as to attract the required number and quality of consultants to facilitate the delivery of a safe and sustainable service.

"As our local health services have now reached a crisis point, this council calls upon the Secretary of State for Health to immediately intervene in this increasingly worrying situation.”

In March, members of the hospital trust board agreed to start working on a detailed plan to close Princess Royal Hospital's A&E overnight if they get to the position when they need to.

Board members agreed they would work towards the Telford A&E overnight closure plan, as Shrewsbury is the home of the county's trauma unit and it would not be possible to close in the time frame being worked to.

They insisted that any decision would not affect Future Fit, the ongoing process to decide the future of hospital services in Shropshire. They also pledged to include as many people as possible in the proposals.

In April, Telford & Wrekin Council urged people to sign a petition showing their support for the Princess Royal Hospital and to attend a protest march to show support for the hospital.

Councillors have previously called for the Health Secretary to intervene in the Future Fit plans, after it was announced that the preferred option for the future of the hospitals was for both the A&E and the Women and Children's Centre to be located at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital. Though no final decisions have been made.