Shrewsbury Health Hub decision must be made in public say campaigners
Campaigners say a decision on the location of a new Shrewsbury Health Hub in the south of the town must be made in public.
NHS bosses today confirmed ten sites have been identified as part of the process of choosing a final location, but those sites would not be made public and the public would have no say in the final decision.
Shropshire Council will have a shortlist presented at a council meeting in March with the public excluded.
The practices involved in the new health hub are The Beeches Medical Practice, Belvidere Medical Practice, Claremont Bank Surgery, Marden Medical Practice and Marysville Medical Practice. South Hermitage Surgery Mytton Oak Surgery and Radbrook Green Surgery are also involved in the project and may deliver some of their services from the hub.
Gareth Robinson, executive director for delivery and transformation at NHS Shropshire Telford and Wrekin, said they were unable to share the ten sites because of commercial confidentiality.
He also retracted previous statements that the Health Hub would also be a Diagnostic Centre for Shrewsbury and Shropshire, stating that any new facilities would principally be for patients of the six GP Practices due to move and the two other Practices originally involved in the plans.
In the same statement, Mr Robinson said that Telford & Wrekin had secured funding for a brand new Diagnostic Centre for Telford residents, but declined to reveal the amount of money involved.
Work to build the new hub would take place between 2025 and 2026.
Local health campaigners and Liberal Democrat councillors have pledged to fight the decision to make such a fundamental choice behind closed doors, arguing for full public involvement in the process.
Save Our GP Surgeries campaigner Alex Wagner said: “Once again, our leadership is not getting the message. The public have been very clear on this - they demand to be consulted on every aspect of the superhub, with an option not to proceed. NHS bosses say the public don’t need to have a say on the decision as it is a matter of fact. They seem to give less weight to the matter of fact that hundreds or thousands of local people will find it harder to access basic healthcare if their decision goes ahead.”
Former NHS consultant Bernie Bentick added: “And so we are losing our local GP practices and not even gaining a diagnostic centre. It is a total betrayal of the feedback that local NHS bosses have received time and time again, imploring them to think again and provide Primary Care services locally, in the communities that they currently serve, not in a huge, remote impersonal edifice.
"The issues here are multifold. Car parking has not been fully acknowledged as an issue and nor has public transport access. They repeat they will have a weighting process, but have declined to give details. The decision-making process seems to be weighted on individual decisions rather than any objective standards - what they say goes. That is not good enough for residents.”
