Future Fit: Shropshire health bosses 'happy' with consultation progress
Health bosses say they are happy with how the Future Fit public consultation is proceeding – but they still want more people to give their views by filling out a survey.
It comes after the consultation mid-point review revealed only about 0.5 per cent of the population had responded.
But Dr Julian Povey, chairman of Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group, said this was in keeping with similar public consultations which have happened around the country.
However, he said there were plans to try and target 'hard to reach' groups.
He added: "Our consultation is in keeping with public sector consultations.
"One per cent would still be quite a lot of people, but we would always like more to fill in the survey."
Although two options have been put forward in the public consultation, Dr Povey stressed it should not be seen as a 'vote'.
He said: "It's not about how many contribute, it's what they contribute."
Issues raised have been around issues of transport, emergency transfer times, finances and planned care arrangements.
Meanwhile, an emergency medicine consultant will be hosting a question and answer session on the Future Fit Twitter page tonight.
Dr Edward Rysdale currently works as an emergency medicine consultant at University Hospitals of North Midlands in Stoke.
He previously worked as a consultant for The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) and will be returning to the trust later this year.
Dr Rysdale said: “I left SaTH when they split services across two sites as I felt it destabilised A&E and that I couldn’t deliver the care that I felt should be delivered.
“I’m coming back to work in Shropshire as I believe that Future Fit means I will be able to deliver excellent emergency care.
"I also want to be involved in designing and providing a new and better service for the county I live in.”
The Twitter chat will run from 7pm to 8pm.
People are invited to ask questions about Future Fit during this time by tweeting @NHSFutureFit and using the hashtag #futurefit
A number of public exhibitions have been arranged and people can fill out a survey to give their feedback on the Future Fit plans.
The proposals involve having a single emergency centre for the county at either Royal Shrewsbury Hospital or Telford's Princess Royal Hospital.
Health chiefs want to separate emergency and planned care.
For more information on all the events and to access the survey visit nhsfuturefit.org
