Hospitals decision next week

New emergency health services are to be considered next week that will impact on residents from Welshpool and throughout Montgomeryshire.

Plans have been put forward for new A&E services that could be based at Shrewsbury, Telford or a new location, possibly between the two towns.

The plans, which have caused concern in Montgomeryshire if the Shrewsbury A&E site is closed, are being considered by health bosses in Shropshire but in consultation with health services in Powys and local groups and organisations, as well as through a series of public consultation meetings that took place last year in Newtown.

The Programme Board of NHS Future Fits will meet next Wednesday to consider a series of recommendations put forward following public consultation.

Campaigners in north Powys have urged the board to keep A&E services at Shrewsbury over fears the additional travelling time to Telford or another location could impact on saving lives.

The board is also considering setting up Urgent Care Centres at Shrewsbury, Oswestry, Telford, Ludlow or Bridgnorth, which could also be used by residents from Montgomeryshire due to their proximity to the border.

On Wednesday the Board will consider a shortlist of options for A&E and publish its final decision in the summer.

The recommendations are:

• Emergency Centre (EC) and Diagnostic and Treatment Centre (DTC) on a new site
• EC on a new site, DTC at Princess Royal Hospital (PRC)
• EC on a new site, DTC at Royal Shrewsbury 
• EC at PRH, DTC at RSH
• EC at RSH, DTC at PRH
• Do minimum (maintain dual sites)

The Programme Board will also be asked to consider approving the prototyping of four initial Urgent Care Centres (UCCs): One at Telford; One at Shrewsbury; two elsewhere in the area, either in Oswestry, Whitchurch, Ludlow or Bridgnorth.

This initial prototyping will allow the programme to learn and develop the UCC offer for local communities.

David Evans, Chief Officer of Telford & Wrekin Clinical Commissioning Group and Dr Caron Morton, Chief Accountable Officer for Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group said: “We would like to thank everyone on the Evaluation Panel for their hard work.

“This was an intensive exercise with very many variables to consider.

“We would also like to thank everyone including the many members of the public who have taken part in the engagement programme to date and whose views have led us to this point.

He added: “These are the recommendations the NHS Future Fit Programme Board will be asked to consider but they are not binding.

“Once Programme Board has decided on a shortlist it will allow us to move on to the next stage of NHS Future Fit.

“This is an important landmark if we are to achieve the radical transformation of local NHS services which can best serve our patients and those from Wales who rely on them.

“Once we have a shortlist it will allow us to focus our efforts on further evaluating these scenarios so we can prepare more information ready for formal consultation later this year.

“This will include another round of public engagement. It will also involve an immense amount of technical work that would not be possible if we had the entire long list to consider.

“This work will help us arrive at a point, later in 2015, where the NHS Future Fit Programme Board is able to recommend a preferred option with which we can go out to a full public consultation.

“There is still a long way to go, but NHS Future Fit is making tangible progress.”

The next round of engagement kicks off with two ‘pop-up shops’, one in Telford Shopping Centre on 20/21 Feb and Shrewsbury Darwin Shopping Centre 27/28 Feb.

Many more will follow and will be publicised via the NHS Future Fit website at www.nhsfuturefit.org