The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust (SaTH) has announced that the A&E at the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford will now remain open after securing more middle grade doctors and nurses.
This follows the work of both MPs and Councillors in urging NHS Improvement, Health Education England and neighbouring health trusts to support SaTH in their recruitment drive.
Lucy Allan said:
“I am hugely relieved that our A&E at Princess Royal will remain open 24 hours a day seven days a week. I am extremely grateful to the Health Secretary Rt Hon Matthew Hancock MP for his help in ensuring health bodies got involved in resolving the staff shortage.
“If SaTH management had taken appropriate action to secure staff, then the recent chaos and uncertainty would have be avoided. It is incredible that they did not put in place many obvious measures to secure staff, but instead threw in the towel and threatened closure. This was wholly unnecessary. It should not have taken the combined efforts of MPs and Councillors to help them find what were obvious solutions. This is no way to run any organisation and certainly not a hospital, upon which the most vulnerable members of our community are dependent.
“Although this is welcome news for residents, there are serious concerns about the management and their decision making ability. With Special Measures in place there will now be protection against the reckless actions of management, but it seems inevitable that a new team is essential to take the Trust forward."