MPs Mark Pritchard and Lucy Allan and Cllrs Andrew Eade and Nigel Dugmore today met with the Secretary of State for Health determined to seek action on the Future Fit process.
Concerns about the paralysis of the process and the inability to reach a decision were raised.
The Secretary of State agreed to tell NHS England that it was time to make a decision and that delays had gone on long enough. He said that once a decision was made, the matter could then be referred up to him for his intervention if necessary.
The MPs were also told that the price tag of SaTH’s preferred option, which would see some services transferring from Telford’s Princess Royal to the Royal Shrewsbury, was a very significant figure and might not be available for SaTH's chosen option, given other competing demands.
Mark Pritchard said : “The Trust has to get on and make a decision in the interests of patient safety and patient outcomes. The Health Secretary has agreed to speak to NHS England to get them to sort it out.”
Lucy Allan said : “This has gone on long enough. People deserve to know what is happening to the future of health care in Telford. It would be wholly unacceptable for SaTH to be putting residents through this protracted uncertainty, and to eventually go out to consultation on a proposal for which funding had not been agreed and which might in any event never happen.”