Future Fit hospitals shake-up an 'unstoppable train' - chief
The controversial £312 million shake-up of hospital services in Shropshire has been likened to an 'unstoppable train' which will almost certainly go ahead, irrespective of any change in government.
Sir Neil McKay, chairman of Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Integrated Care Board, said he could not envisage any circumstances in which the scheme, previously known as Future Fit, would be cancelled, even if there was an early general election.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer had told the Shropshire Star that he would order a review of the project, were he to become Prime Minister.
But Sir Neil said an independent panel had concluded that the plan was the best way to improve hospital services in the county, and the final stage in the administrative process was nearing completion.
"I now see this as like a train running down a line, which impossible to stop," he said.
Dr Ed Rysdale, the consultant in charge of the project, said contractors were about to start work, and he expected all the administrative hurdles to be completed before May.
