£35 million for state of the art NHS facilities in Telford and Shrewsbury
The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust is set to receive £35 million for three major schemes to improve services for NHS patients in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin and mid Wales, the Government announced today.
The funding will be used to create a new women and children’s unit at the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford, strengthen the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital as the main centre for inpatient acute surgery in the county and develop new Women and Children’s services including a new Children’s Assessment Unit and Midwife-Led Maternity Unit at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.
The new women and children’s unit at the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford will be for Consultant-led deliveries, Neonatology services, Gynaecology and breast services requiring an overnight stay, Children’s services requiring an overnight stay, Children’s cancer services, which will be based in a brand new unit and a 24 hour Children’s Assessment Unit.
The funding will also develop a new Children’s Assessment Unit at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital located alongside the hospital’s Accident & Emergency (A&E) department, a new Children’s Outpatient Department, a new Midwife-Led Maternity Unit and Maternity Outpatient Department at the hospital.
A further development in Shrewsbury will see the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital become the main centre for acute surgery for the county. This announcement comes alongside plans later this month for the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital to become a Trauma Unit as part of new life-saving regional plans for delivering care for the most complex and serious injuries. The hospital is also set to be the base for a new screening programme for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms set to be launched in the county in 2012.
Subject to approval of planning application and a Full Business Case, work on the new facilities would be set to start later this year. The planning application is currently under consideration by Telford & Wrekin Council, and the Full Business Case will be submitted later this spring to The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, West Mercia PCT Cluster and NHS Midlands and East. New services are expected to be fully in place by summer 2014.
The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust is one of the many Trusts across England to receive funding for new operating theatres, A&E departments and other services as well as new scanners and ultrasound equipment as part of the overall £330 million allocation for England.
Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said:
“I want NHS patients attending hospitals in Shrewsbury and Telford to get the best care and treatment.
“We have saved money in central capital budgets this year which means we can spend more money on improving NHS facilities. This will mean that more patients at hospitals in Shrewsbury and Telford will benefit from the latest world class equipment and services.”
Adam Cairns, Chief Executive of The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust said:
“This capital funding will help us to keep services in our hospitals for patients across Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and mid Wales. We have faced some real challenges to keep services local, and have seen more and more services leaving our hospitals to specialist centres outside the area.
“With the support of this national capital funding programme we will be able to strengthen the Princess Royal Hospital as our main centre for inpatient women and children’s services, and the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital as our main centre for acute surgery. This will ensure that local people have Centres of Excellence that will provide the best possible care, and continue to attract the best doctors, nurses and other clinical staff to the county.”
Telford & Wrekin Council leader Kuldip Sahota welcomed the news that the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust has secured Government borrowing to build a new maternity unit at the Princess Royal Hospital (PRH) in Telford.
“This is great news for the people of Telford and Wrekin and Shropshire and means that significant investment can go ahead as committed to as part of the review of hospital services to create state of the art facilities on both the PRH and Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (RSH) sites.
“At the PRH there will be a new women’s and children’s centre which will replace the current provision on both hospital sites which I think everyone in the area recognises badly needs replacing and modernising.
“At the RSH it will see major investment to make this the centre for all inpatient surgery in the area as well as creating a new children’s assessment unit.
“These developments, subject to planning permission, will develop both sites and have to be good news for both the PRH and RSH. That these new facilities are expected to open in around two years signals the progress that is now being made on the reconfiguration plans that were consulted on last year.
“Together this investment will help secure both hospital sites and ensure that the Trust continues to offer the best possible health care to people as close to where they live as possible.”
