Confirmed: Shropshire Future Fit decision to be made on January 29

Subject to a meeting with NHS England, a group of 15 voting members will make a decision on which hospital services will be provided at Princess Royal Hospital and at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.

It follows a 15-week Future Fit public consultation around the plans, which would see a single emergency centre for the county. Planned care would be provided at the alternative site.

The CCGs' preferred option is for the emergency centre to be based at Shrewsbury and Telford to take on responsibility for planned care.

But 65 per cent of the 18,742 surveys received said they 'strongly disagreed' or 'disagreed' with the preferred option.

David Evans, chief officer at NHS Telford & Wrekin CCG said: “We are pleased to be able to announce the date for this important meeting, in which members of the Joint Committee will be asked to make a final decision on the future of clinical services at the two hospitals.

Consideration

"On behalf of both CCGs, I would like to thank everyone who has been involved in the Future Fit process over the last five years.”

Dr Simon Freeman, accountable officer for NHS Shropshire CCG said: “This meeting marks the end of a conscientious consideration phase in which both CCGs, together with key stakeholders, have taken time to hear, reflect and comment on the feedback from the public consultation.

“In addition, we have looked in detail at the additional work that has been ongoing for some months. This includes public, community and non-emergency travel and transport activity, ambulance modelling, the impact that any changes to hospital services may have on seldom heard groups and the proposed plans to improve community services for health and care closer to home."

Anyone can attend the meeting, which will be held in public at 6.30pm on January 29 at Harper Adams University in Newport. The meeting will be live streamed via a webcast that can be accessed at nhsfuturefit.org