Shropshire hospital doctors speak out on future of services
A group of senior clinicians working at both the Royal Shrewsbury & Princess Royal Hospitals have made a statement to place on record their personal concerns about the future of health care services in Shropshire.
The group says if decisions are not taken quickly to resolve the longstanding problems that exist in our hospitals, they believe that there will be dire consequences for all health care services in Shropshire.
The Group's Hospitals Reconfiguration Statement
The maternity building at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital is in a very poor state and at risk of significant failure which puts the future of safe and effective paediatric maternity and neonatal services at risk. We are very close to securing significant improvements and developments in some services and will lose these if we are not able to centralise emergency and inpatient surgical care. The reconfiguration proposals will offer significant improvements in the quality of care for many patients.
Ideally we would be able to work on one site, or failing this to have all major services on a single site. We know from the previous numerous attempts that this is just not possible. We also know that a new maternity, paediatric and neonatology building at RSH, however desirable, cannot be afforded. There is wide acceptance that the reconfiguration proposals do not represent a perfect solution but they do offer a sustainable, high quality future for health care in Shropshire. We believe that the reconfiguration will minimise the risk that further services are lost to the county.
We accept that the campaigners, staff and politicians who are simply saying ‘no’ to these proposals have valid concerns. Many of these can and will be addressed. However, the status quo is not sustainable and the very real problems we face in providing services must be addressed urgently. It is vital that decisions are taken now to protect local services. Simply saying ‘no’ will not do.
We understand that there will never be total support for any reconfiguration proposals. However, we feel it is our duty emphasise to the public that there is wide support for these proposals within the clinical community. The window of opportunity to implement the required changes is closing and without them the future for health services in Shropshire looks increasingly bleak.
Dr Jeff Butterworth, Consultant Gastroenterologist
Mr Ewan Craig, Consultant Ophthalmologist
Mr Mark Cheetham, Consultant Surgeon
Mr Robert Turner, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon
Dr Kevin Eardley, Consultant Physician and Nephrologist
Mr Bruce Summers, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon
Dr Mary Heber, Consultant Physician
Mr Antony Fox, Consultant Surgeon
Mr Andrew Tapp, Consultant Obstetrician/Gynaecologist
Mr Piers Moreau, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon
Dr Nigel Tufft, Consultant Anaesthetist
Dr Darren Warner, Consultant Physician
Dr Mark Prescott, Consultant Accident and Emergency
Dr Suzie Thompson, Consultant Care of the Elderly
Mr Bruce McElroy, Chief Pharmacist
Mr Chris Beacock, Consultant Urologist
The group acknowledge and respect the fact there are colleagues within Trust who have genuine concerns with the proposals. The views are also of the individuals and not those of Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust or any department within the organisation.
