Councillor Joan Gorse made the claim at a meeting of Wellington Town Council this week, where members discussed the planned closure of the Malling Health Wrekin walk-in centre, based next to the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford.
During the heated discussion, Councillor Gorse said: “This is a slippery slope for our health service locally, and I’m afraid local people are going to suffer because they’re not going to be able to find a GP, let alone hospital services, and it’s going to add pressure onto our accident and emergency department right away.
“And it won’t be just Wellington that’s going to be affected, it’s going to be the whole area. It’s really worrying.”
The centre, which opened in 2009, is due to shut in July.
Telford and Wrekin Clinical Commissioning Group said the decision had been taken as its contract was up for renewal, it had staffing issues relying on locum GPs, and half a million pounds would need to be spent on the ageing building it is based in.
Councillor Miles Hosken branded the decision to close the health centre ‘an absolute disgrace’.
Full story in the Shropshire Star, 17 March 2017