Hancock backs keeping Princess Royal open as A&E Local

Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock has called on the NHS to keep the Princess Royal A&E open as an A&E Local.

The Independent Reconfiguration Panel visited the trust to hear directly from clinicians at both sites, who reported that the local area needed a new model of hospital care to provide their patients with consistently safe, high-quality emergency care and treatment 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. As such, they recommended the emergency care centre for the region will remain at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.

Hancock has written to NHS England tasking them with keeping open the A&E at the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford as an ‘A&E Local’, citing the need for patients in Telford to continue having access to emergency healthcare services.

Plans for A&E Locals are being developed by NHS England and Improvement, and the Department of Health and Social Care is in close contact with the NHS on these developments.

Hancock said: “I want all patients to receive excellent healthcare throughout their life, no matter where they live. Any changes to services are rightly based on clinically led decisions at a local level. I am delighted we are investing £312 million for acute services in the local area.

“Having listened to and accepted the advice of independent clinical experts, I have asked NHS England to come forward with proposals within a month on how they will keep the A&E in Telford open as an A&E Local so that the Princess Royal Hospital can continue to deliver the urgent and emergency care the residents in the growing town of Telford need.”

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This story was first published in digitalhealth.net

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