Future Fit: Leader hopes no hospital construction contracts will be signed until after election

An Independent Reconfiguration Panel this week confirmed that transformation plans at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Princess Royal Hospital can continue.

However, Telford & Wrekin Council's Labour leader Shaun Davies says that if Labour win the next General Election then the party’s leader Keir Starmer and Wes Streeting (Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care) will review the Future Fit hospital transformation scheme.

“The fight is not over, we will continue to fight against these plans as a council,” said councillor Davies.

“I hope that the Government will not enter into legally binding contracts with construction companies and others to spend money on taking services away from our town.

“Despite people telling us not to, this council has continued to use every lever it has available to it to challenge the decision of this Government to close down our accident and emergency department and move the consultant-led women’s and children’s unit to Shrewsbury.”

Councillor Davies said that the Independent Reconfiguration Panel made recommendations for the transformation process – including scrapping the phrase ‘A&E Local’ to describe the proposed services available at Telford's Princess Royal Hospital.

“It makes 13 recommendations which demonstrates just how problematic this proposal is, but also crucially that the term A&E Local should not be used because it undermines patient safety,” added Councillor Davies.

“This council, under this Labour-led administration, has consistently called out the con that an A&E Local is anything more than a downgraded A&E.

“To their disgrace certain politicians, particularly members of parliament, and some Conservative councillors told the residents of Telford & Wrekin to welcome the fact that we had an A&E Local as some type of win.

“At every opportunity we pointed out to the public that an A&E Local was not anything accident, it was nothing emergency and there was nothing local about it.

“Not only has the independent panel also ruled that the term should not be used, it also backs the calls of the Royal College of Emergency Clinicians who also say that A&E Local should not be used.”

Councillor Davies has also called on Members of Parliament for Telford, Lucy Allan; and for The Wrekin, Mark Pritchard, to ‘apologise’ to their constituents for ‘attempting to mislead them’ over the phrase A&E Local.

He added: “In the panel’s words a ‘gross issue of patient safety’ where people would think that they’re going to an A&E and in actual fact nothing could be further from the truth.

“I ask members of Parliament for Telford and Wrekin to apologise for misleading residents into an A&E Local.”

Councillor Davies added that he will be writing to the Government’s Health Secretary, Victoria Atkins, and the Integrated Health Partnership ‘to immediately withdraw' the term A&E Local from the plans.

He added: “It’s time the Conservative Government, their MPs and local health bosses were straight with the people of Telford and Wrekin.

“These proposals will make Telford the largest town in the country without a fully functioning A&E and any attempt to create a smokescreen around that and any dire consequences of people trying to access treatment mistakenly after these plans have been put in place is on them.

“I think NHS leaders and NHS bosses locally have a moral obligation to immediately withdraw the use of A&E Local from this, whilst we will continue as a council to push on for a review of these decisions.”