Shrewsbury Town Council votes to call for 're-evaluation' of Future Fit plans

At Monday night's meeting of Shrewsbury Town Council, councillors passed a motion to call on local health leaders to commit to "re-evaluating" the Future Fit programme.

The planned closure of the A&E at Telford's Princess Royal Hospital (PRH) and the relocation of consultant-led women and children’s services to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (RSH) was signed off in 2019 by then health secretary Matt Hancock.

The Government confirmed in a letter to Telford & Wrekin Council in May that the plans “have not changed”.

Green Party councillor Chris Lemon put forward the motion, saying he believed the 10-year-old data was now too out-of-date to be relied upon.

In the meeting Councillor Lemon said the programme had been "stuck on the drawing board for several years now" and more recent public surveys have demonstrated "a strong public opinion that both the RSH and the PRH should retain full A&Es."

He added: "Some may say that as long as there is a fully-functioning A&E at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, people within the town do not have anything to be too concerned about.

"However, this ignores the bigger picture. We're all of us aware of the immense strain on the NHS services at present, we're aware that patients are regularly advised to avoid using A&E because of extreme pressures on resources - and that earlier this year, the Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin Integrated Care System area was the worst performing in the country.

"If the Princess Royal A&E was downgraded as proposed, it would only add to the pressures on the departments at the RSH.

"And there is very little confidence that the reorganisation of services proposed by Future Fit, with most of the measures originally planned to provide some services at outlying community hospitals long since stripped out, would compensate or cope with the inevitable increased demand.

"This motion aims to reflect concerns felt by people in Shrewsbury about the consequences of another major change to health services which will directly affect them."

Some councillors raised concerns about the motion, urging caution at "reopening old wounds".

Meole councillor Bernie Bentick said: "Population demographics and the configuration of services can really only support one A&E service, which is why the trust has gone for that option, and why the Department of Health and Social Care has supported that option.

"So, I am very concerned that we will be reopening wounds that have hopefully been gradually healing, for a subject that will result in yet more angst between the two halves of the county.

"And the cash in the meantime is losing its value with inflation. I would strongly urge that we don't reopen the debate about the fully functioning A&E departments. The numbers, I'm afraid, do not stack up.

"We know that the one in Shrewsbury is currently under extreme pressure from problems with staffing. Having two functioning A&E departments will increase the requirement for very experienced, very skilled staff."

Bagley councillor Alexander Phillips agreed: "The issue has been debated several times and re-examined and the conclusion has come back to the one unit.

"By reopening old wounds, we delay and delay and delay this. Kicking the can down the road is not going to be helping Shrewsbury's residents, we need to press on with this.

"We're a Shrewsbury council here, not a Telford council, and we're looking at the services for Shrewsbury residents."

The council did however recognise the age of the data and agreed to request a copy of the Outline Business Case from NHS Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin.

As a result of the vote, the council voted to call on health bosses to undertake a 're-evaluation'.

The approved motion, after amendments, read: "Shrewsbury Town Council recognises the data used to inform the decision to close one of the counties A&E departments is now nearly 10 years old.

"It calls on NHS Shropshire Telford and Wrekin, Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, NHS Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit, and NHS England – Midlands to commit to re-evaluating the Future Fit/Hospitals Transformation Programme."