Revealed: Shropdoc cutting services in three Shropshire towns
Two Shropdoc sites will close and staff will be made redundant in an attempt to cut costs, it has been revealed.
Staff at Shropdoc, which provides out-of-hours emergency care, were told that sites at Oswestry and Bridgnorth will be shut and operational hours cut at Whitchurch.
Patients who require an appointment will need to travel to Royal Shrewsbury Hospital or the Princess Royal in Telford. The site at Whitchurch Community Hospital will no longer be open during weekday evenings or overnight on Fridays and Saturdays.
The changes come after Shropshire’s current out-of-hours GP service teamed up with Shropcom, a trust running community services, to win the new GP-led out-of-hours contract for the county starting in October.
According to a member of staff, following the award of a new out-of-hours contract, Shropdoc needs to save approximately £2 million over the life of the contract, which is for three years.
Julian Barrett, chief executive of Shropdoc, said: “While we are proposing a small reduction in the number of bases, we are making sure our clinical services are in the right place to meet the demand we have across the county at different times of day.”
Proposals have been met with increasing concern from members of staff who are in fear of losing their jobs due to the cuts.
Jan Ditheridge, chief executive of ShropCom, said: “We will work closely with Shropdoc to support their staff through the process of being ready for the new service contract as of October 1. We will do all we can to help those who are in a challenging position to find new roles.”
A Shropdoc member of staff, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “Someone should be there to care for people when they are taken ill, not someone on the end of the telephone telling you, on a winter’s night, that you can see a doctor but you will have to travel to Telford or Shrewsbury. It will be the front line staff who will be left to pick up the pieces when it all goes wrong.”
