Health Secretary tasks NHS with keeping A&E at Princess Royal open as an A&E Local
Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock has today called on the NHS to keep the Princess Royal A&E open as an A&E Local.
The Independent Reconfiguration Panel visited the trust to hear directly from clinicians at both sites, who reported that the local area needed a new model of hospital care to provide their patients with consistently safe, high-quality emergency care and treatment 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
The independent panel recommended the emergency care centre for the region will remain at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.
The Health and Social Care Secretary recognises that patients in Telford must continue to have access to emergency healthcare services and has therefore written to NHS England tasking them with keeping open the A&E at the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford as an ‘A&E Local’.
Plans for A&E Locals are being developed by NHS England and Improvement, and the Department of Health and Social Care is in close contact with the NHS on these developments.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said:
I want all patients to receive excellent healthcare throughout their life, no matter where they live. Any changes to services are rightly based on clinically led decisions at a local level.
I am delighted we are investing £312 million for acute services in the local area.
Having listened to and accepted the advice of independent clinical experts, I have asked NHS England to come forward with proposals within a month on how they will keep the A&E in Telford open as an A&E Local so that the Princess Royal Hospital can continue to deliver the urgent and emergency care the residents in the growing town of Telford need.