Shropshire health boss: 'No information withheld over Future Fit'
A Shropshire health boss has defended himself over dealings with the Future Fit scheme and stressed he has not withheld any information.
A document leaked to the Shropshire Star last month showed the cost of delivering the original hospital shake-up scheme had soared by almost 60 per cent to £498 million – £186m more than first anticipated.
Telford & Wrekin Clinical Commissioning Group's governance board was told on Tuesday that the document showing the Future Fit outline case will not be made public until later this year – after being signed off by NHS regulators.
But David Evans, joint accountable officer for Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin CCG, assured members of the public at the meeting that there would be "full transparency" surrounding the documents.
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He said the additional costs would not necessarily affect the clinical model and inflation would also have affected every other option put forward.
Mr Evans said he hadn't withheld any information, adding: "The strategic outline case when originally produced used public sector modelling which was entirely right.
"That has changed substantially over the last three years."
He said if additional funding was needed in the future to deliver the changes, a request for extra capital investment could be made.
"This board wants to make sure we have a clinically and financially sustainable solution to deliver the right services which enable people to be treated in Shropshire," Mr Evans added.
"That is why we started Future Fit.
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"If we don't do something we will lose services to this county and people will have to travel further for services.
"I don't think that's the right thing to do and I don't think the board thinks that's the right thing to do."
Last year, Health Secretary Matt Hancock asked an independent panel to decide whether the Future Fit decision should be reviewed.
It came after a formal request was made by Telford & Wrekin Council.
When questioned about whether or not the independent panel had been told of the inflation rise connected with the scheme, Mr Evans said: "I don't think that figure had been calculated at that stage.
"I think there was a general discussion around the potential for inflation to cause a problem and that was increasing month on month.
"I don't recall whether any figures were used."
In October, Mr Hancock allowed the plans to go ahead, but asked for proposals to be developed for an 'A&E Local' at Princess Royal Hospital in Telford, which is expected to be a downgrade from full A&E services.
PRH will also take over responsibility for planned services, while the county's main emergency centre will be housed at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.
