Carol Shillabeer, Chief Executive, Powys Teaching Health Board says:
I am very pleased to announce that NHS Future Fit has received confirmation from the Department of Health and Social Care in England that capital funding is available for the programme.Importantly, this means that these vital proposals that aim to ensure the safety and sustainability of acute hospital services in Shropshire – which serve half a million people in north Powys, Shropshire, and Telford & Wrekin – can now proceed to public consultation, subject to final approval by NHS England.
We are working with NHS Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group and Telford & Wrekin Clinical Commissioning Group (CCGs) to ensure that arrangements are in place to engage the people of Powys as part of this consultation as well as key partners in the health and care system. We look forward to sharing more information once details of the consultation are confirmed.
Hospital services in Shropshire are vital for many of our communities in North Powys so we will be encouraging communities and partners to get involved and have their say when consultation is launched later this year. Further details about today’s announcement are also available in the article below from the CCGs and on the NHS Future Fit website at www.nhsfuturefit.org
* * * * *
This announcement clears the way for NHS England to provide its final, formal approval for the CCGs to launch the Future Fit public consultation. Once the CCGs receive this approval, they will finalise plans and announce the start date of the consultation.
The public consultation will ask for people’s views on a proposed new model of care for the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Princess Royal Hospital which involves one hospital becoming an Emergency Care site and the other hospital becoming a Planned Care site.
When the consultation starts, the CCGs want to hear the views of people from across Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and mid Wales on the two options:
Option 1: The Royal Shrewsbury Hospital becomes an Emergency Care site and the Princess Royal Hospital becomes a Planned Care site (This the CCGs’ preferred option)
Option 2: The Princess Royal Hospital becomes an Emergency Care site and the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital becomes a Planned Care site
Under either option, both hospitals would have an Urgent Care Centre that is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“Thank you to everyone who has been involved in helping us to reach this point.” commented Dr Simon Freeman, Accountable Officer for NHS Shropshire CCG. “This is fantastic news for our local communities and a major step forward in making sure we can secure two vibrant hospitals and improve the care received by people across Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and mid Wales now and in the future.”
Mr David Evans, Chief Officer, NHS Telford & Wrekin CCG, said: “This is a massive endorsement of the tireless work of our clinicians, staff and local people in co-designing the best model of hospital care for our region. When we proceed to consultation, we want people across all the areas served to make sure they have their say.”
Simon Wright, Chief Executive of The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, added “This news sends out a clear message to our doctors, nurses and other frontline staff that we will be able to transform our hospital services to improve outcomes for our patients, reduce waiting times and cancellations and to become an even more attractive place for people to come and work.”
For more information visit the NHS Future Fit website at www.nhsfuturefit.org
No comments:
Post a Comment