Letter - We're in danger of losing key services

I attended the hospital reconfiguration consultation at Shrewsbury Town's football stadium recently.

We were told that unless the hospital trust could produce a sustainable plan by 2014 there was a very real danger a lot of hospital services could be withdrawn from Shropshire to larger hospitals in the West Midlands.

I was horrified at the response I saw and heard from the public and the MP for Shrewsbury.

The crowd appeared not to understand the problem and just demanded to keep women and children's services at Shrewsbury.

They had been told that the existing building was no longer fit for purpose and that the estimates were:

• £13 million just to repair the worst of the damage at the existing building.

• £62 million to put a new facility in Shrewsbury (for which there is no site).

• £28 million to put an up-to-date facility at the PRH at Telford where there was plenty of room.

It became apparent that the Shrewsbury people would rather lose major hospital facilities completely rather than share them with Telford.

I believe Daniel Kawczynski's attitude was a cynical attempt to gain popularity with his electorate even if, in the process, he caused the loss of some key services to not only Shrewsbury but the whole of Shropshire.

Denis Allen, Wellington