Major step forward in plans for county's emergency hospitals

The Future Fit plans to re-organise Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (RSH) and Princess Royal Hospital (PRH) in Telford – both managed by Shrewsbury & Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) – have been mired in delays, amid legal challenges and political disagreements.

The government awarded SaTH £312m for the re-organisation in 2018 – but the plan is yet to go ahead.

Now the Health Secretary, Steve Barclay, has confirmed that the Strategic Outline Case (SOC), a document which sets out how the plan will work – and what services will be based at which hospital, has been approved.

The document was originally submitted to the government and the NHS in October last year.

Approval of the proposal was delayed after it emerged that SaTH had submitted a plan that would have cost more than the £312m allocated – understood to have been around £500m.

In response the NHS asked SaTH to come back with a proposal that was "compliant" with the £312m awarded for the project.

In a letter responding to Shrewsbury & Atcham's Conservative MP, Daniel Kawczynski, Mr Barclay said that the SOC had now been approved by the Joint Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England Investment Committee.

It means that SaTH will now develop what is called the Outline Business Case (OBC) for the plan.

It is understood that would have to be approved, followed by approval for a Final Business Case, with Mr Kawczynski saying he then hopes physical work will begin on the plan next year.

The proposals have been the subject of significant controversy – based around the locations of key services provided by the hospitals.

Under the plans RSH will become the base for the county's only 24-hour A&E department – currently both RSH and PRH offer the service.

PRH will have what has been described as an 'A&E Local,' although details of how that service would operate have yet to be confirmed.

The proposals will also see consultant-led women and children's services move from Telford to Shrewsbury, while the Telford site will become the centre for planned care.

It is yet to be seen if there have been changes to the proposals as a result of SaTH being asked to provide an option that is 'compliant' with the £312m awarded for the project.

Management and senior doctors at the hospitals, which have been in special measures since November 2018, have said the re-organisation is the only way to improve services offered in the county.

However, the plans have been criticised by some health campaigners as a way to cut services, while Telford & Wrekin Council has called for the proposals to be scrapped entirely.

Mr Kawczynski said the issue was a "top priority" and that the latest developments were "very good news".

He added he looked forward to building work on the plans starting next year – a possibility outlined by former Health Secretary Sajid Javid in the House of Commons earlier this year.

The Shrewsbury & Atcham MP said: "This allows the trust to submit the Outline Business Case in the next phase to NHS England, if that is approved the Final Business Case can be submitted by the trust. If that is approved then building work can commence.

"I welcome the news and will support the trust in their submission of the OBC, followed by the FBC.

"I look forward to building work commencing in 2023 as stated in the house recently during an answer in Prime Minister's Questions to my question on this critical issue."