Shropshire Star comment: We must act now to save A&E
The clock is ticking for the NHS in Shropshire.
In just a few weeks, unless something changes, overnight closures will start at the accident and emergency department at Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital.
It is said that it will be a temporary closure. However, there are fears among some that the temporary will pave the way for the permanent. After all, the permanent closure of Telford’s A&E is the most controversial proposal in the big Future Fit consultation.
As the closure looms, there is in a perverse sort of way a positive aspect, in that the prospect is concentrating minds. It is vaguely comparable to the prospect of a no-deal Brexit injecting new urgency into the negotiations.
The thought of the A&E closing is so awful that innovative and imaginative measures – and maybe those terms are just euphemisms for desperate – are called for.
Simon Wright, the chief executive of Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, together with Telford & Wrekin Council’s leader Shaun Davies, and Mayor, Councillor Raj Mehta, have met officials from the Indian Consulate in Birmingham to ask for help.
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If the merits of working at the Telford hospital can be promoted in India, perhaps even at this late stage the cavalry could appear over the horizon.
They would be very welcome to come, and there are already plans in place by which free accommodation could be made available.
While Salopians can hardly be expected to have a good handle on how skilled medical staff now in India might feel about coming to work in Telford, we do know jobs in the NHS have always attracted people from all over the world, so the notion is not fanciful.
But what if they don’t come? That would underline the difficulties the trust has been having in recruiting the staff it needs. “See, we told you so,” it could say. “This is how bad things are. Now will you believe us?”
In Shropshire, we have tended to look at it as a Shropshire problem. Now people further afield are taking fright about what the closure might mean regionally. As Telford moves to condition critical, we can but hope it will provide a spur to intensive treatment.
