Letter: Strategy is not Fit

Future Fit, the ill-fated review which makes the Iraq War inquiry look positively speedy, was set up in 2013 to work out Shropshire's future health strategy. Alas, it's been ensnared in a huge row over who will have the county's single A&E: Royal Shrewsbury Hospital or Princess Royal Hospital in Telford. This could be your final destination, dear reader, so do keep reading.

Shrewsbury unsurprisingly wants the A&E in Shrewsbury while Telford wants it in, you guessed it, Telford. A third place compromise was ruled out as too expensive but no final decision on RSH vs PRH has yet been made, despite a reported Future Fit bill of £2.2 million and counting. Indeed, one easy answer to the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust (SATH) deficit crisis might be to create seven Future Fits and then close them all down, saving £15 million per year.

For now, Shrewsbury says it's the right place for locals and it also serves Wales, while Telford points to its young and growing population.

When my father died last year in a hospital down south, he was taken (unconscious) to an A&E much further away than the one which had served his local community for decades. I doubt it made any difference but...

I suspect the final answer expected next summer will be Telford as bureaucrats tend to be swayed by big numbers. But if I've learnt anything from 30 years as a journalist, it's to never underestimate random or even zany factors in deciding future action. I love the apparently true Robbie Savage anecdote when doctors were trying to decide if the football star had concussion after being injured in a match. They used the time-honoured question: "Who's the prime minister, Robbie?" Savage, who took little interest in politics and had no idea on a good day, said he didn't know and concussion was wrongly diagnosed.

Whatever they decide, like the vast majority of readers my own experience is that Shropshire's hospitals are simply great. Add to this an incredibly caring GP in Shrewsbury.

No doctor can do anything about the miserable body I rent long-term but the NHS has given me the best treatment imaginable. And for free! If you've ever worked abroad, you'll know how incredible this is.

The problem is a lack of money. The best possible starting point is for all decision makers in Shropshire to acknowledge this financial fact – and not try and cloak it in a better service and all that nonsense. Whichever way they go, it's not Future Fit, it's Future Miserable.

Brian Church, Shrewsbury