Future Fit: Shropshire campaigners and politicians react to county A&E proposal

Telford MP Lucy Allan said: "I am disappointed with this decision and will continue to make the case for the Princess Royal Hospital as the best location for the Emergency Department and for the Women & Children's Unit to stay in Telford.

"I am surprised that Future Fit is in a position to make this recommendation as it is unclear whether funding is available for this or any proposal. This uncertainty is further compounded by the recent publication of the Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin Sustainability and Transformation Plan which was thin in detail.

"I am very concerned that Telford's needs have not been given the weight they merit. These are concerns that have not been addressed by Future Fit despite the best efforts of local representatives.

"Telford is a town with a fast growing population and which has significant pockets of deprivation. It is essential that funding follows needs and I am left to wonder if Future Fit have properly grasped the demographics and health inequalities of Telford and Shropshire.

"There is a statutory duty on the Secretary of State, NHS England and the CCG to give due regard to health inequalities when making decisions and there is no evidence that this has been done. I spoke in Parliament on this issue on Thursday and highlighted this shortcoming.

"To move the Women and Children's Centre is without logic. This is a unit which cost £28 million to build and was only opened two years ago."

Gill George, chairman of Shropshire Defend our NHS said the preferred option as set out by the Future Fit Programme Board was nothing more than a "cuts package" which was detrimental to people no matter where they live.

She said: "You can see what harm it will be to people living in Telford & Wrekin who are losing their A&E department, their acute care and their Women and Children's Centre which was built two years ago at a cost of £28 million. Shropshire and Powys loses its access to planned care.

"There are some people with medical conditions for who that longer ambulance journey will mean lives will be lost."

Shrewsbury and Atcham MP Daniel Kawczynski said: "This is a clinically led decision and I respect the decision which over 300 local doctors, clinicians and medical experts have recommended. "They have a passion for improving services for all local constituents. They understand better than anyone else what is in the interest of local patients.

"We as politicians have stepped back to watch this process unfold and now the decision has been made I hope all local politicians can get behind it and collectively lobby government for the investment which will be required for these recommendations to be implemented.

"It is happening in other areas of the UK so there will be a heavy demand on the NHS for the capital investment. I am already lobbying and I hope others will do.

"I very much hope Telford council will now accept this decision and get behind our local health experts."

Mark Pritchard, MP for the Wrekin, said: "This is an interim decision. No final decisions can or have been made.

"Obviously, I will be fighting this all the way and am confident of eventual victory."

Montgomeryshire MP Glyn Davies said it is the right decision for patients across Shropshire and Mid Wales.

"I'm really pleased with this decision; it is what we wanted and I'm not surprised," he said.

"Following the period of consultation, we MPs must come together and campaign to NHS England and the Government for the £300m that will be needed to implement these plans.

"It is a huge amount of money to find but we couldn't even raise the issue of funding with them until now. We have a recommendation and we must act on it, work together and implement a plan."

North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson said he was relieved to hear that the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital is likely to have the county's only only A&E department and take on Women and Children's Services too.

He said: "I'm glad that there has been a decision for everything to centre on Shrewsbury, while the PRH will still have about 80 per cent of the A&E department services they already provide.

"It has been clear all along that this decision should have been taken on clinical needs and I have always been all for listening to the professionals on this.

"We now need to fully get behind the new planned £300m state-of-the-art trauma centre.

"This will stop people having to leave the county for expert trauma care.

"This issue has dragged on and I was getting exasperated. I just need to find out more about what the situation is likely to be for those areas like my constituency outside Shrewsbury and Telford, so I'm calling for a meeting on this before Christmas."

Montgomeryshire AM Russell George tweeted:

Oswestry Mayor Councillor Paul Milner, has collected almost 5,000 signatures on a petition calling for the major A&E unit to be in Shrewsbury.

He said: "This is absolutely brilliant news and I hope that it means that common sense will prevail in the end."

"If the preferred option is eventually adopted I believe that it will help to say lives."

"Shrewsbury is the best geographic base for the services, serving the largest population."

Councillor Milner urged members of the public to ensure that the preferred option is carried through, by taking part in the consultation and by continuing to add names to his petition.

"By travelling across the region I have won the support of Oswestry, Welshpool and Newtown town councils and many, many parish councils. We now have almost 5,000 signatures on the petition, available online and at the Guildhall in Oswestry, with more coming in all the time."

Newtown County Councillor Joy Jones who has campaigned for Shrewsbury to be named as the major A&E centre said it was exciting news.

But she warned people not to become complacent and urged them to attend consultation meetings.

"This is a step forward and a massive step forward, but it is not the final decision," she said.

"We have campaigned for years for better health services for the people of mid Wales and it is wonderful to see that at last we are being taken into account."

"I am very very relieved by the news."