Labour will halt closures of A&E departments

Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said he would launch a full-scale review of such proposals and stop the Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) programme if Labour wins the General Election.

STPs are government-led proposals to re-shape healthcare services across the country, although critics have described them as a covert method of cutting funding from the NHS.

Shropshire’s sustainability and transformation plans incorporate the Future Fit proposals to have a single A&E centre at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital with Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital downgrading to an urgent care centre.

Shropshire’s plan speaks of how £74 million might be used “differently and more effectively” but does not go into detail about how this will happen.

Plans to close the A&E at either RSH or PRH are estimated to save about £22 million a year, although it will require £300 million of capital to complete.

Last year NHS England said there is “little confidence” in Shropshire's STP because it was concerned the finances behind the plan do not stack up.

Telford & Wrekin and Shropshire councils also criticised the STP for being too broad-brush.

Mr Ashworth said: "Labour will put the best interests of patients at the heart of our NHS, so I'm announcing we will halt planned closures to hospitals and other services.

"We will have a moratorium on the STPs.

"We have listened to the hundreds of patients and campaigners up and down the country that have been pleading with the Government to hear their concerns about their local services.

"Threats of hospitals being closed, A and E services moved miles up the road, and children's wards being shut, have caused widespread concern and confusion.

"What is more, these decisions have been decided behind closed doors with no genuine involvement of local people. It's a disgrace.

"The public deserves better. My first job as secretary of state will be to review every single STP proposal looking at what's in the interest of quality of patient care.

"We'll ask a new body - NHS Excellence - to lead that review. And patients and local communities will be involved at every stage.

"Local people should be at the heart of decisions about how care is provided."

Responding to the plans, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: "This is just another nonsensical Jeremy Corbyn idea - last December his shadow health secretary backed these plans and Labour's 2015 manifesto said they would do the same thing.

"These local plans are developed by local doctors and communities, backed by the top doctors and nurses of the NHS, and will improve patient care.

"This is all underpinned by an extra £10 billion for the NHS, which we can only afford thanks to our strong economy."