Minister insists Future Fit hospital overhaul plans must be within £312m budget
Plans to re-shape the county's major hospital services need to be within the £312m allocated for the project, according to the Government.
Shrewsbury & Telford Hospitals NHS Trust (SaTH) has been in discussions with the NHS over its business case for the controversial Future Fit proposals for Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Princess Royal Hospital for a number of weeks.
Last October the trust submitted a business case understood to cost more than £500m for the plans – considerably more than the £312m it was awarded for the work in 2018.
In response the Government asked for the business case to be resubmitted with an option which could be paid for with the £312m awarded, and now Health Minster Edward Argar has given the clearest indication yet that there will be no more money forthcoming.
The comments came in an adjournment debate on 'health inequalities and capital spending' secured by Telford MP, Lucy Allan in the House of Commons.
Mr Argar said: "We are clear that the £312 million that my Hon. Friend alluded to remains, as it was at the outset, the maximum amount currently allocated to that programme.
"It reflects the original allocation and continues to be the allocation, so I encourage her trust to continue working with NHS England and NHS Improvement to develop a scheme and a programme that matches that budget for the benefit of everyone’s constituents in Shropshire and in Wales, who this hospital also serves."
Mr Argar had previously said: "NHS England and NHS Improvement continue to work with her local trust to develop the business case for that programme, and we still wish them to go ahead with it.
"We want them to work to come up with the right solution for the local community, and we remain committed to that."
Ms Allan said the rising costs mean the trust should reconsider its plans and look at how else to improve health services for the people of the county.
She said: "Ministers have been clear that the budget for the ‘transformation plan’ is £312m.
"Despite this the trust put in, and continued to work up, a plan costing £533m, and failed to submit a proposal that met the budget.
"That has significantly delayed much needed improvements to our local healthcare system."
She added: "Whilst they have delayed the economic climate has significantly deteriorated and it is not just Health Ministers who have been clear that there is no extra money for this plan, but also Treasury Ministers.
"The trust and NHSE need to be honest with themselves. What improvements to the local health system can they make with £312m?
"In my view they need to spend it on more diagnostic, assessment and early screening facilities outside of the two hospitals.
"They also need more local walk-in facilities across the area, so fewer people present at hospital. Sadly, the impression I get is that they are pressing on with their big ticket critical care centre."
Under the Future Fit proposals Shrewsbury would become home to the county's only 24-hour A&E, and would also take over consultant-led women and children's services from Telford.
Princess Royal Hospital would become the centre for planned care and would also have an 'A&E Local'.
Shrewsbury & Telford Hospital NHS Trust declined to comment.
