PRH to receive additional £2m funding for A&E facilities ahead of winter

The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH), which runs the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford, will use the money to convert the former Wrekin Midwife Led Unit (MLU) into a ‘priorities admission unit’, which will help to ease pressure on A&E.

The MLU has been replaced with a purpose-built modular building located alongside the Consultant Led Unit at the Shropshire Women and Children’s Centre at PRH.

Sara Biffen, Deputy Chief Operating Officer at SaTH, said: “We are delighted to have secured this funding, which will have a significant positive impact as we look to deal with the challenges that winter brings.

“Winter traditionally brings with it additional demands on our services and this, coupled with our ongoing coronavirus response, will bring a number of challenges.

“By creating a priority admissions unit, we will be able to move patients into beds more quickly, which will reduce the pressure on our Emergency Department and improve care for our patients.”

Across England, the Government is providing £300 million to A&E departments, with work to be completed by the start of next year so hospitals can benefit from the upgrades during the peak of winter.

In June, the Prime Minister announced plans to accelerate £5 billion of infrastructure spending as part of his New Deal for Britain – an ambitious economic strategy to rebuild Britain by putting jobs, skills and infrastructure investment at the heart of the Government’s plans. This funding forms part of the New Deal, which allocated a total of £1.5 billion this year for hospital maintenance, hospital building and A&E expansion.

The funding also comes on top of the additional £3 billion that the Prime Minister recently announced to help prepare the NHS for the winter months ahead. This funding will allow the NHS to continue to use the extra hospital capacity acquired from the independent sector through the coronavirus pandemic, and also to maintain the Nightingale hospitals until the end of March next year.

The news has been welcomed by MP Philip Dunne. He said: “NHS staff in Shropshire have worked tirelessly over recent months, and I would like to thank them for everything they have done to get our local community through the coronavirus pandemic.

“While we hope for the best this winter, it's right that we plan for the worst. This funding to upgrade A&E at the Princess Royal Hospital will ensure that we are in the best possible position for the challenges that the winter months may bring.”