Shrewsbury MP Daniel Kawczynski in parliamentary hospital protest
An MP who pledged to ask the Health Secretary three questions every day in protest at delays to a controversial shake-up of Shropshire hospitals has tabled his first three queries.
Daniel Kawczynski, MP for Shrewsbury and Atcham, said he would issue three written questions to Health Secretary Matt Hancock every day until the Future Fit scheme was put into action.
The £312 million plan proposed replacing the separate A&E units at Telford's Princess Royal Hospital and Royal Shrewsbury Hospital with a single, enlarged 24-hour emergency centre at Shrewsbury, and a part-time A&E unit at Telford. Consultant-led maternity services would move from Telford to Shrewsbury, while Princess Royal Hospital would be redeveloped as a planned care centre. A leaked report suggested the cost of the scheme may have risen to £498 million.
The scheme has been met with fierce opposition from Telford & Wrekin Council, and Mr Kawczynski said delays to the programme were putting patients at risk.
This week he pledged to ask Mr Hancock three questions every day until the scheme went ahead, on top of the 10 questions he asked before Christmas.
His first three questions were:
What assessment he has made of the effect on patient safety of the delays to the Future Fit process instigated by Telford Council?
How many new nurses will be employed at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022?
What the budget for Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust has been in (a) 2005, (b) 2010, (c) 2015 and (d) 2018
