Shropshire Star comment: Let’s tie up loose ends of Future Fit saga
So, the deal. At last the shape of Future Fit, which has been Shropshire’s own tortuous and agonised version of Brexit, characterised by division and delay, is taking concrete form.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock has given the governmental thumbs-up to the Future Fit proposals which have been so controversial for so long, although he has added a mysterious tweak.
As all who have followed the saga will well know, the central highly controversial proposal concerns the accident and emergency units at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford. Two will become one.
Under Future Fit, emergency care goes to Shrewsbury. Both hospitals will have urgent care centres, and the PRH will be responsible for planned care.
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Consultant-led women’s and children’s services are switched from the Princess Royal to the Royal Shrewsbury.
This is the model Matt Hancock has now confirmed – and that has already prompted sharp disappointment and some outrage in Telford area where the perception is that the town is the loser in the process.
Shropshire’s biggest town, a growing town, will indeed lose its accident and emergency department.
Now we come to the mysterious bit.
“I have asked NHS England to provide advice on how the ‘urgent care mode’ at PRH can be delivered through an ‘A&E Local,’” writes Mr Hancock.
What is meant by A&E Local is not at this moment clear. It sounds like a spin doctor’s trick. Put A&E in the title and the people of Telford will not notice that their service has been diminished. It could though be rather like the difference between Tesco and Tesco Express.
Geography
This is a point on which Telford campaigners will be looking for clarification, although no doubt with slim hope of a satisfactory answer from their point of view. Will it be a bit like the minor injuries unit at a cottage hospital? That would be a major downgrade of the status of the current PRH unit.
The test is where emergency cases – say, patients with serious injuries arising from road accidents – would automatically be taken. Simple geography has always played a significant part in the Future Fit arguments. For Telford casualties, being taken to Shrewsbury is going to mean longer travel times by ambulance compared to arrival at a hospital on the doorstep.
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Given the history, it would be naive to believe that Matt Hancock’s ruling means this is a done deal now. There is neither reason nor incentive for Telford to stop fighting its corner and for a Future Fit arrangement more amenable to the town. Who knows, as in the Brexit debate, the courts might yet play a part.
Apart from anything else, there is the national political picture which, if the predictions of a general election soon are borne out, could change. A new administration of whatever political colour will provide a renewed opportunity to open up the issue.
However, if this really is it, Shropshire is going to have to find a way in the future to live with Future Fit as it has now been shaped.
That means ensuring that it works in the best way for patients’ interests.
For staff, there will be great relief in being given a measure of certainty.
Patients will notice a difference as there will be a difference in where they will be treated. That is a difference of geography. Unhappiness in having to travel may be offset somewhat if there is no noticeable difference in quality of service or, ideally, things demonstrably improve in that respect.
Get Brexit Done has been a political refrain all this week. Shropshire has waited long enough for Future Fit. It’s time to get that sorted too.
