GP patients 'betrayed' as Shrewsbury health 'super hub' location to be decided behind closed doors
GP patients have been "betrayed", a councillor has said, after it was confirmed the public will have no say in where a controversial health "superhub" is located.
An NHS boss confirmed this week that due to commercial sensitivities, the location of the proposed Shrewsbury Health Hub, which would see six surgeries close and move to a new building, will be decided behind closed doors.
A shortlist of 10 potential sites in the south of Shrewsbury has been drawn up. The plans would mean six GP surgeries in Shrewsbury being closed and moved to the hub, which would affect 45,000 patients. The practices involved are Claremont Bank, Belvidere Medical Practice, South Hermitage, Marden Medical Practice, Marysville and The Beeches.
Gareth Robinson, executive director for delivery and transformation at NHS Shropshire Telford and Wrekin, also retracted previous statements that the health hub would also be a diagnostic centre for Shrewsbury and Shropshire, stating that any new facilities would principally be for patients of the six GP practices due to move and the two other practices originally involved in the plans.
Shrewsbury Lib Dem councillors have hit out over the decision.
Bernie Bentick, a former NHS consultant who represents the Meole ward, said: "We are losing our local GP practices and not even gaining a diagnostic centre. It is a total betrayal of the feedback that local NHS bosses have received time and time again, imploring them to think again and provide primary care services locally, in the communities that they currently serve, not in a huge, remote impersonal edifice.
"The issues here are multifold. Car parking has not been fully acknowledged as an issue and nor has public transport access. They repeat they will have a weighting process, but have declined to give details. The decision-making process seems to be weighted on individual decisions rather than any objective standards - what they say goes. That is not good enough for residents.”
Councillor Alex Wagner, who represents Bowbrook, added: “Once again, our leadership is not getting the message. The public have been very clear on this - they demand to be consulted on every aspect of the superhub, with an option not to proceed.
"NHS bosses say the public don’t need to have a say on the decision as it is a matter of fact. They seem to give less weight to the matter of fact that hundreds or thousands of local people will find it harder to access basic healthcare if their decision goes ahead.”
Mr Robinson said: “Members of the public have been involved in the site location process. The programme was paused in order to revisit the options available, and members of the public were asked to submit suggestions for consideration. This resulted in an additional 47 sites being put forward for us to assess and analyse, which was a substantial amount of additional work.
“A technical assessment criterion, for example: ‘Does the site meet the minimum area required?’ was applied to obtain a shortlist of ten potential viable sites. The ten shortlisted sites were then assessed further based on the weighted benefit of each location, as well as a comprehensive travel analysis for each proposed location.
“The decision to hold a closed meeting was taken to share the outcome of the options appraisal, because at this point in the process we are not able to share the locations of the ten potential sites due to commercial confidentiality. However, we are committed to sharing as much as we can with the public when we are able. There has been no secrecy or betrayal and we have been very clear about the process being followed. We have openly shared the assessment criteria and have kept people informed every step of the way.”
A full site options appraisal report – without public input – will be shared with the extraordinary project board in March for sign-off.
They hope to share a preferred site list to a closed Shropshire Council meeting on March 27. The hub could be built between 2025 and 2026.
