Liverpool specialists to aid Shropshire hospitals
Shropshire health bosses are working with another trust to bring specialist neurology care back into the county.
In March health bosses said the neurology service in Shropshire would be temporarily unable to accept new referrals for six months to clear the backlog.
This date has now been extended for another six months due to a shortage of neurologists.
To bring the service back to Shropshire, health officials are hoping specialists from the Walton NHS Foundation, based in Liverpool, will come in and see patients in the county.
In a member due to be presented to Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group on Wednesday, Dr Julie Davies, director of performance and delivery at the CCG, said: "We have agreed to progress with a hub and spoke model on the understanding that progress is made between the trust and The Walton within four weeks."
A ‘hub and spoke’ model would see a specialist coming into Telford's Princess Royal Hospital or Royal Shrewsbury Hospital from the Walton Centre and provide high quality care and support staff.
In addition the University Hospital of the North Midlands (UHNM) has served notice on their monthly neurology outpatient clinic at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt site.
The service from UHNM ends on October 12.
Ms Davies added: "As of October 13 neurology provision at Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt will be delivered by The Walton Centre.
"The Walton Centre will provide two clinics per month at the RJAH site.
"This new partnership with The Walton Centre will also help build relationships during the development of demand management and other innovative approaches across Shropshire for neurology.
"The Walton Centre however informed commissioners they would not share a service model on providing a solution for the whole of Shropshire/SaTH services until a formal tender is released.”
Despite the various recruitment drives, the trust has so far been unable to secure additional full-time consultants.
To help meet the current demand for referrals, Shropshire and Telford Clinical Commissioning Groups commissioned The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust to provide this service for new patients on an interim basis.
