Future Fit: Telford council formally asks Health Secretary to intervene

The authority's leader, Councillor Shaun Davies, said he believed the plans would be "damaging" for the people of Telford & Wrekin, if they go ahead.

The Future Fit proposals, which were approved by Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin clinical commissioning groups in January, would see Telford's Princess Royal Hospital (PRH) lose its A&E and consultant-led women and children's services.

Both would be based at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, while PRH would become a centre for planned care.

A 14-week consultation last summer saw 65 per cent of the 18,742 responses registering that people 'strongly disagreed' or 'disagreed' with the plan.

The formal referral means the Conservative Secretary of State for Health Matt Hancock will now have to decide whether to order an independent review into the decision.

The review could recommend changes to the decision, potentially putting the Future Fit process at risk, or confirm proceeding as planned.

Detailed

Councillor Davies said the legal argument submitted by the council runs to 61 pages.

He said: "This is a lengthy and detailed legal referral.

"It outlines many of the arguments we have long made and goes further into how Future Fit's decision would not meet the growing and changing needs of our population – not now and not in the future.

"There is no evidence of any investment in primary and community healthcare services which are needed to keep people out of hospital in the first place.

"We have no confidence that the NHS can afford to carry it out with what is a loan, not a grant from the government. We have no confidence that there would be any savings from these hospital changes to reinvest back into primary care and community services that are so badly needed in the borough and in Shropshire and Mid Wales."

Councillor Davies said the referral now puts the future of the county's hospitals in the hands of the Health Secretary.

He said: "We had previously asked the Health Secretary to intervene because we believe this decision makes no sense.

"The formal referral by the council now forces him to review proposals that I believe to be incomplete following analysis that was flawed, leaving too many questions unanswered.

"We believe the plans, if implemented, would be very damaging for our local community.

"The future of this decision is now in the hands of the secretary of state and I trust that he will use his powers to protect health care in the borough."

Future Fit now faces more delay

It was expected but a formal request to review the Future Fit decision means further delays, and throws more uncertainty on a process that has already created division in the county.

Telford & Wrekin Council has filed an official request for the Health Minister Matt Hancock to order an independent review of January’s long-awaited Future Fit decision.

The move is one of the final opportunities for the council to challenge the decision, that if it goes ahead, will see A&E move from Princess Royal Hospital in Telford to Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.

As well as the emergency centre, consultant-led women and children’s services would also switch from Telford to Shrewsbury.

Planned care would switch to Telford and both hospitals would have urgent care centres.

Bosses at the under-strain hospitals have repeatedly spoken of the importance of separating emergency care from urgent care in reducing waiting times for patients.

An independent review could have significant ramifications for the process, potentially delaying, disrupting, or allowing the project to proceed. The council has submitted a 61-page document to Mr Hancock making its case.

Consultation

The authority said its reasons for referring the decision were that the Future Fit decision “is not in the best interests of health services in the area”.

In its submission the council is also arguing that the consultation with the Joint Scrutiny Committee was inadequate.

Earlier this month Mr Hancock visited PRH where he was urged by local MPs, Lucy Allan and Mark Pritchard, to order a review of the decision.

During the visit the Health Minister confirmed it was in his power to order the review and said that he would consider the request when it arrived. He said: “Shrewsbury is clearly the preferred option for some services and other services would come to Telford. I have heard very clearly what the local MPs have said, and Lucy in particular, making the case for an A&E to be retained in Telford and I understand why she is making that case.”

Mr Hancock said he would consider any request “extremely carefully” and would make an “objective assessment of the best thing to do”.

The minister explained that without intervention the plans would have progressed as expected.

It is yet to be seen whether any review could significantly delay the plans, with hospitals chief executive, Simon Wright, hoping work on the project can get under way in December.

However, Mr Hancock said he expected to be able to process the request quickly enough to avoid any impact.

He added that any review and subsequent delay would not jeopardise the funding for Future Fit.

He said: “I can turn it round quickly enough to not delay the process.”

Responding to the latest development in a joint statement David Evans, chief officer for NHS Telford & Wrekin CCG and Dr Simon Freeman, accountable officer for NHS Shropshire CCG, said they would be assisting in the process.

They said: “We recognise the process and understand Telford & Wrekin Council’s position.

“NHS England is leading the process.”