Powys patients 'should not be ignored' in Future Fit hospital shake-up - report

After four years of delays the Shropshire and Telford NHS Trust’s Hospitals Transformation Programme was given the go-ahead by a Government advisory body leading to the publishing of an Outline Business Case for the programme this week.

Plans to progress the scheme were on hold after Telford & Wrekin Council leader Shaun Davies wrote to the Health Secretary in March 2023 asking for the case to be referred to an independent body, claiming a “significant expansion in the provision of healthcare in Powys” meant it was incorrect to include the needs of mid Wales residents when making decisions about healthcare in Shrewsbury and Telford.

A business case for a 'Health Hub' and a proposed new hospital facility in Newtown is due to be submitted to the Welsh Government in the summer.

But the report delivered by the Government’s Independent Reconfiguration Panel recommends that the region’s hospital reorganisation should now go ahead as planned.

“Powys patients will continue to need access to emergency and planned care in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin, and the NHS Trust’s data modelling has considered all activity, including from Powys, to determine future demand for their services which is included in the outline business case,” it said.

“The panel concludes that the approach and evidence set out in the NHS Trust’s strategic outline case and outline business case to consider the needs of the population of mid-Wales remains correct and in line with national guidance on cross-border healthcare.”

The report added that the Powys Teaching Health Board plans to repatriate certain services to north Powys include low complexity day cases, diagnostics and outpatient services but were constrained to what could be provided in a “community hospital setting.”

The panel made the recommendation that: “The healthcare needs of the residents of mid Wales must continue to be considered as part of the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals Transformation Programme.”

Powys Teaching Health Board said it was a “vital step forward” in providing safe and sustainable hospital services for the region.

“Our rural communities, particularly in North Powys, remain critically dependent on the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust for a wide range of planned and emergency services and particularly for time-critical access to life-saving care,” said a spokesperson.

“We welcome the recognition of this both in the continued work by the trust on the Hospitals Transformation Programme, and in the recommendation from the UK Government’s Independent Reconfiguration Panel that ‘the healthcare needs of the residents of mid Wales must continue to be considered as part of the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals Transformation Programme’.

“We look forward to continuing to work with the trust in the development of the Full Business Case as the final stage in the process.”