20 July 2018
The Trust which runs Shropshire’s two acute hospitals is continuing talks on the best way of keeping patients safe in the event of fragile services becoming unsustainable.
The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH), which runs the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (RSH) and Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital (PRH), is examining what short-term measures could be taken ahead of a decision by NHS Future Fit, which will define the future of healthcare for generations to come. These talks have been on-going since 2015.
Doctors, Nurses and other health professionals in emergency care, critical care and acute medicine, as well as other specialties, are clear about how fragile some of our services are. It is therefore vital that contingencies are put in place should the continued safe, effective and dignified running of these services become unsustainable because there are not enough staff to provide a safe service 24-hours a day in two A&E departments.
Although SaTH has recently been successful in the recruitment of additional consultants in A&E, staffing remains a challenge in this and other areas of the workforce in the Emergency Departments at RSH and PRH.
In March 2017, SaTH’s Trust Board was told that all options had been explored and the only viable option should a “tipping point”, where safe services could no longer be maintained, be reached, was the temporary overnight suspension of A&E services at PRH.
Since then, business plans have been under constant review to ensure that, should their implementation become necessary, there is as little impact on our patients as possible. The matter was most recently discussed at SaTH’s Board meeting, held in public, on 5 July.
Nigel Lee, Chief Operating Officer at SaTH, said: “As a result of ongoing conversations, our Business Continuity Plans for our Emergency Departments are being refreshed to ensure they are as robust as possible.
“The fragility of our A&E Departments at PRH and RSH is well known, having been discussed by our own Board and in meetings with our partners, as well as being the subject of a great deal of coverage in the media.
“There has been no decision taken to suspend services at PRH overnight, but it is still crucial that we continue to work behind the scenes should that scenario become necessary.
“I must once again emphasise that the suspension of services is not something we want and we are working hard to avoid this. However, it would be both irresponsible and dangerous for us not to have robust plans in place to ensure the continued safe and dignified treatment of our patients.”