Future Fit bosses defend plans in face of 'no confidence' call

Councillor Andrew Eade, leader of the council’s Tory group, plans to lodge the motion at tonight's meeting of the full council.

Under the Future Fit plans, there will be a single emergency centre in the county based at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital or Telford's Princess Royal Hospital.

The alternative site would deal with planned care and people have been allowed to have their say in a public consultation.

However, Councillor Eade says the plans should be halted for a third option to be considered – to locate hospital services between Telford and Shrewsbury.

But bosses from Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), which signed off the proposals for public consultation, say that a 'robust process' was followed.

A joint statement from David Evans, chief officer at Telford & Wrekin CCG, and Dr Simon Freeman, accountable officer for Shropshire CCG, said: “I am confident that we have undertaken a robust process in which we carefully considered around 40 ideas before agreeing on the two options that we have now asked for people’s views on through the Future Fit consultation.

“At every stage of the process, we have sought the suggestions, opinions and scrutiny of clinicians, staff, members of the public and elected members of the two councils.

"Alternative options were discounted after considering a range of criteria, including our workforce, meeting the needs of local people now and in the future and whether they are affordable both to build and run going forward.

"Four of these options involved a new build or greenfield site.

Reinforced

"In applying methodology from the Department of Health Capital Investment Manual, all four were discounted on affordability, both in terms of capital but, more importantly, the ongoing running costs.

"This was reinforced by the findings of an independent feasibility study in 2014 which explored the idea of an emergency centre on a new greenfield site.

“Our clinicians have always been aware of other similar hospital models across the country that also involve separating emergency and planned care, including Dorset, Calderdale & Huddersfield and Northumbria.

"We have looked in detail at the Northumbria model and concluded that it is not feasible to replicate in Shropshire."

Councillor Eade will also put forward a motion of no confidence in Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust's management during tonight's meeting and has called on Sath's chief executive Simon Wright to resign.

Chair of the trust, Ben Reid, has defended Mr Wright saying he is doing a 'tremendous job in difficult circumstances'.

He said: "Many of the trust’s current challenges have a long history.

"These are compounded by the pressures of rising patient demand at a time when there is a shortage of specialist staff across a number of areas of the NHS.

“The board has confidence that Simon and the wider leadership of the trust have the capacity and capability to address these challenges. We are determined to support them as they work to improve the performance of the trust.

"Sath has had a high churn rate of chief executives in the past and this has not helped the trust or the people it serves.

“Continuity is essential. Now is the time when everyone who cares about our NHS should be rallying around our hospitals and their staff, our GPs and everyone working for patients in Shropshire, Telford, Wrekin and Mid Wales.

"By working together we can deliver the health service that we all aspire to.”

Visit nhsfuturefit.org for more details on the Future Fit plans.