The future of maternity services at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital has been put in doubt this week after rumours emerged it was at risk.
Wyn Williams, Lib Dem assembly candidate for Montgomeryshire, has revealed that he is working with Shropshire Councillor Heather Kidd to get clarification from the Shropshire Hospital Trust about the future of Shrewsbury’s maternity unit following a tip off from within the service that its future may be at risk.
“Maternity services, and various other services, at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital have been threatened several times in recent years,” he said.
“The Trust for the Royal Shrewsbury and the Princess Royal Hospitals now has a new chief executive who appears to have reopened the debate about cost savings and where services are delivered.
“People must have their minds put at rest about this rumour. Heather and I are calling on the new chief executive, Adam Cairns, to dispel local fears as this would cause severe hardship to many mums-to-be in Mid Wales and South West Shropshire. Shrewsbury must keep its maternity unit.”
Heather Kidd added: “I had two of my daughters at the RSH and it takes around 30mins from Chirbury to get there.
“If I had had to travel an extra 15-20mins to Telford one of my daughters would probably have been born in the car. And there were complications.”
Adam Cairns, Chief Executive of The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, said: “There are no plans to make savings in our maternity services. In fact, the Board has just agreed to increase spending in this key area by appointing three additional obstetricians, seven extra senior doctors, 15 additional midwives, five additional theatre nurses and a number of additional support staff.
“Our key concern is to ensure that our highly skilled and dedicated staff can provide their services to patients safely and in an environment that is appropriate. We aim to offer safe, sustainable maternity care as locally as possible for women and families in Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and Mid Wales.
“We are constantly looking at the way we provide our services to ensure they are safe and sustainable into the future. Under any plan we would retain maternity units in both Shrewsbury and Telford and the Trust would still provide an obstetric maternity unit. We are considering whether we could move the model of maternity service we currently provide in Shrewsbury to Telford, and the services being provided in Telford to Shrewsbury. Any changes would only be made after full public consultation. The purpose of the consultation is to hear from local people about the advantages and disadvantages of the options available, and to get their feedback and ideas about how to shape our services for the future.”
by Anna Williams