Future Fit: Labour responds to Tory MP over call to back controversial hospital plans

Shropshire's much delayed 'Future Fit' hospital plans have taken a major step forward in recent weeks, with Government and NHS approval for its strategic outline case (SOC).

The move is significant progress in the proposals for Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (RSH) and Princess Royal Hospital (PRH) in Telford – both of which are managed by Shrewsbury & Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH).

Shrewsbury's Conservative MP, Daniel Kawczynski, has challenged the local Labour Party to unite behind the proposals – a call they have rejected over concerns about what they see as the loss of services.

The chairman of Shrewsbury & Atcham Labour Party, Paul Forrest, said they would not be prepared to sign up to any plan that would see Telford lose its A&E.

Under Future Fit, RSH will become home to the county’s only full 24-hour A&E.

The Shrewsbury hospital will also take over consultant-led women and children's services from Telford, while PRH will become the centre for planned care.

Mr Kawczynski has stressed that action is needed to address the challenges faced by the two hospitals, arguing that further delays only serve to dilute the funding awarded by government.

In his latest reply to Mr Kawczynski, Mr Forrest said there is concern that the Future Fit plans have been cut to fit the cloth of the money available.

The Government has made £312 million available to pay for the plans, but the SOC report revealed that the SaTH had actually wanted more than £500m for the revamp, due to inflation since the money was awarded in 2018.

In his letter to Mr Kawczynski the Labour chairman said: "It is crystal clear in the SOC that the trust has had to cut its cloth to fit a budget which was based on 2016 costs. We must be honest about this.

"When we raise the point about improved patient outcomes, it is not to question the integrity or professionalism of clinicians, but to question your government’s spending priorities, so amply illustrated by most of your chancellor’s so-called mini budget.

"It is laughable to suggest Labour is refusing investment in our stricken hospitals in Shropshire, or, as you have claimed in the past, opposition to the plans has led to the long delays. Your Conservative Party has been in power for over 12 years, at a national and Shropshire Council level. Investing in a safe and effective hospital reconfiguration has been well within your government’s grasp."

Mr Forrest said that his party believed a reorganisation of healthcare needed to look at all aspects – including community care.

He said: "The SOC recognises that what happens in our hospitals in Shropshire cannot happen in a vacuum, and records that demand and capacity requirements will necessitate a range of targeted out of hospital services.

"Safe and timely health services are not just about what happens in our hospitals, a fact recognised in the section on ‘Out of Hospital Care’ in the SOC.

"It is very clear that, unless a range of preventative community services and new models of care are developed, assumptions about the hospitals’ capacities to function after this latest version of Future Fit will fall over."

He added: "You ask what our alternative proposals would be for our hospitals. The situation here in Shropshire must be recognised as another symptom of the national crisis in health and social care which in turn will require national solutions to address the range of local challenges."