Letter: Sensible solutions to A&E question

If it is possible to stabilise badly wounded soldiers in Afghanistan for long distance transfer, and closer to home to centralise stroke emergency care in selected London hospitals, then the distance travelled is not an issue, the availability of high quality medical teams is key.

The number of seriously life-threatening cases seen at Shrewsbury and the PRH represents a very small proportion of the total cases, according to NHS data. These patients would be best served by developing a highly skilled team working in one well-equipped centre. It would not matter where this was. Severe head injuries and burns are currently treated in specialist units outside the county demonstrating exactly this principle.

Both Shrewsbury and Telford need minor injury facilities and walk-in GP provision to deal with all the other ailments that turn up in A&E currently. This would not need to be as extensively or expensively staffed or equipped but would give residents in both towns, and adjoining Welsh counties the security of knowing that they can access medical help out of GP hours.

While politicians of all persuasions refuse to accept that patterns of provision must change, and ignore both best medical practice recommendations and economic constraints to gain favour with their constituents, we are unlikely to see a sensible solution.

Stretching resources inefficiently across two relatively small towns 20 minutes apart is not sustainable. While individual MPs stir up emotion with petitions and other political manoeuvring is it too much to hope that a sensible solution based on facts, and not on emotion could be reached?

Penny Wysome, Wellington, Telford