Tracey Huffer, Shropshire councillor for Ludlow East and a practising nurse, has called for better leadership and communication to be shown by the region’s health trusts.
Councillor Huffer says the A&E unit at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital is the closest location for most people in south Shropshire and should be chosen if the county is to have a single emergency centre under the current Future Fit review.
But she said a decision needed to be made to end uncertainty. She said: “It’s a big mess and I’m really concerned about patient care. We have the bare minimum of consultants, we are at rock bottom. How are we going to recruit more, to work for a trust where Telford is always arguing with Shrewsbury?”
“Future Fit, I believe, is dead in the water. I’m not surprised at where we are with it but I don’t know where they’ll go from here.
“No one is taking a lead, no one is talking to each other and it’s in a very, very bad place at the moment. We’ve got to make changes, there’s no doubt about it, because the money is not there.” Shrewsbury MP Daniel Kawczynski said he was furious that the plans had stalled and said Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt should step in, but Councillor Huffer said she would not go that far.
Full Story in Shropshire Star 16 December 2016