The Friends of Royal Shrewsbury Hospital are to make a £1m gift to provide a much-needed extension to maternity services, the Chronicle can reveal.
Executive committee members of the Friends of RSH have agreed in principle to support the major funding commitment, subject to certain conditions.
They have asked hospital bosses to provide more details about the proposed Shropshire Feto-Maternal Centre after being approached for support last month. Further discussions are to take place in January.
Over the last 30 years the Friends have given around £6m to the hospital, to provide equipment and improve services for patients, and this would be their biggest pledge to date.
The maternity unit is one of the oldest parts of the hospital, opened by the Queen’s late aunt, Princess Alice, 40 years ago.
This would be the biggest major investment since 2001 when the government awarded £900,000 for an overhaul of the ante-natal clinic.
The RSH is the main consultant obstetric unit for women in Shropshire and Powys and the new centre would bring together and improve services for expectant mums, particularly those facing complications.
A spokesperson for the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust said: “The trust is considering a range of options to help improve the environment for mothers and babies at the maternity unit at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.
“The options include working in partnership with the Friends of the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital. However, these plans are currently at an early stage of development.”
Gordon Riley, on behalf of the Friends, said: “We have agreed in principle to support funding up to the £1m which has been agreed so far, but we want to know detailed plans and for the centre to bear the Friends’ name. This would be a joint effort with the trust and we would want to be consulted over the design.”
This week the maternity unit introduced state-of-the-art electronic tagging for all newborn babies, at a cost of £30,000 – paid for by the Friends.
It means that all new babies will be continuously monitored by a 24-hour computer system via a tiny electronic transmitter attached to their ankles.
An alarm will sound if they are moved from the ‘safe areas’ or if anyone attempts to remove the tag.
The first baby to be fitted with the new tagging system was baby Charlie Owen, who was born on Monday to Debbie Grey and Tony Owen from Shrewsbury.