No reply from Health Secretary over A & E services at PRH
Telford & Wrekin Council’s three group leaders have voiced their disappointment that the Secretary of State for Health has yet to respond to their call to guarantee A & E services at the Princess Royal Hospital.
The councillors wrote to Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP last month after the Council unanimously backed a motion that committed to retain a 24-hour A&E service at the PRH in Telford at a meeting of the Full Council in September.
Their letter called on the Health Secretary to make urgent reassurances to guarantee A&E services at the PRH.
However the Council has yet to receive any response to the letter from Councillor Kuldip Sahota, leader of the Council and Labour Group leader, Councillor Andrew Eade, Conservative Group leader, and Councillor Bill Tomlinson, Liberal Democrat/ Independent Group leader.
This issue was debated thoroughly in 2009, following which guarantees were given by the Trust’s Board in 2010 that A&E services at both hospital sites would be protected, however these guarantees appear to now count for nothing.
The original letter highlighted many reasons the Council feels that A&E should be retained at the PRH.
Council leader and leader of the Labour Group, Kuldip Sahota, said: “I am very disappointed that the Secretary of State has not even acknowledged the issue.
“The Health Secretary cannot choose to continue to ignore such an important issue for local people and I call on him to respond immediately.
“Keeping 24 hour A&E services at the PRH is our line in the sand and the Health Secretary must look at this as a matter of urgency.
“Telford & Wrekin is one of the fastest growing towns in the region served by the hospital’s trust and as such needs its own A&E.”
