Shropshire’s Orthopaedic Hospital praised by MP who calls for better public transport for staff and visitors

The Lib Dem MP for North Shropshire has pledged to shout up for the hospital, push for better transport links and continue to urge the Health Secretary to address the recruitment difficulties in the NHS.

The hospital has some of the highest patient satisfaction scores in the country but, like all hospitals, has faced trouble filling vacancies, with the added problem of poor bus services making access difficult.

Mrs Morgan was shown around the Gobowen hospital’s children’s ward, Horatio’s Garden and Headley Court Veterans’ Centre and has since highlighted the success of the veterans' centre with the Defence Secretary on the floor of the House of Commons.

The MP is also encouraging constituents to donate towards the hospital’s appeal to build a new garden space for patients on Alice Ward, the children’s orthopaedic surgery and rehabilitation ward.

She discussed the challenges facing the hospital with chief executive Stacey Keegan and learned about the veterans' centre in detail from Lt Col Carl Meyer, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon and former British Army officer.

Mrs Morgan said: “I’m proud to represent North Shropshire where we’re really lucky to have world class facilities at the Orthopaedic Hospital. The new veterans’ centre is really impressive and I can’t wait to return and see it fully up and running.

“The Orthopaedic is somewhere that has made a huge difference to so many people’s lives across Shropshire, the Midlands and beyond and rightly has a fantastic reputation. However it is let down by transport links that are nowhere near good enough.

“Staff across the hospital work long, unsociable hours but if they don’t have access to a car there is often no way to get home from a night shift. Our hardworking NHS staff deserve better.

“Hospitals up and down the UK have huge amounts of vacancies to fill and therefore the Government and councils should be doing everything possible to make them easy places to access and attractive places to work.

“I’ll continue to shout up for a hospital we should all be proud of. And that starts with encouraging everyone to donate to the Alice Ward garden appeal!”

Stacey Keegan, chief executive at The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital, said: “We were delighted to finally be able to welcome Helen to RJAH in person, having been forced to hold our early meetings following her election virtually due to coronavirus restrictions.

“The visit was a good opportunity to showcase some of our exciting developments; not least our new £6 million Headley Court Veterans’ Orthopaedic Centre which is very close to completion.

“We were also able to discuss some of our current challenges. These include workforce, which is a concern right across the NHS, and the transport problems that some of our staff face in just getting to work. We welcomed Helen’s input into these, and her commitment to help us look for solutions.”