Acres of newsprint have been devoted to the future of healthcare provision in Shropshire. There have been questions in Parliament, banner headlines, a war of words, talk of legal action and protests.
This is the single issue that matters most to my constituents; I’m going to keep talking about it.
Last week the Prime Minister said: ‘local people should be able to have their voice heard and the decisions taken should reflect the needs in a particular local area.’
The ‘needs’ the Prime Minister referred to are the health needs of our area. We all can see health inequalities between Telford and Shropshire. Narrowing health inequalities between populations is a legal duty of the local NHS Commissioners.
There were 376 per 100,000 premature deaths in Telford compared to 298 for Shropshire. Nationally, Shropshire is in the ‘best’ category, and Telford is in the ‘worst’. And it is not just premature death. By any health or deprivation measure, Telford has poorer health outcomes and greater need, relative to Shropshire.
Needs cannot be ignored when making decisions about the future. The Health and Social Care Act 2012 requires Clinical Commissioning Groups to reduce health inequalities and to “move towards greater investment in healthcare where the level of deprivation is higher.”
I understand the rationale for a new single site Emergency Department (ED). Clinicians have always said this single site should be co-located alongside the Women & Children’s Centre. That made sense.
Now we are told that new ED must be located in Shrewsbury; as a consequence Telford’s new Women and Children’s Centre would close and move to RSH. No explanation has been given for choosing RSH.
There was a brief mention of ‘Wales’ and I was told ‘[Telford people] can go to Wolverhampton.’ There has been no attempt to explain why those living in West Shropshire and the borders cannot come to Telford. The West Midlands Ambulance Service has confirmed that patient safety would not be compromised by the journey to Telford.
If it is not about patient safety, health inequalities, or need, what is it about? We know it is quicker and cheaper to build at PRH and that Telford has the fastest growing population.
In the absence of an explanation, it begs the question: where do those who making the decision live? Where would they prefer to work? I’ll be asking that question; Telford deserves a straightforward answer.