Moves to stop stroke services leaving Royal Shrewsbury Hospital

Posted: Published on August 21st, 2013

This post was added by Dr Simmons

A campaign has been launched to protect emergency stroke treatment at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.

The possibility of stroke services being delivered from only one of the countys two hospitals, and most likely from Telfords Princess Royal, was raised at a meeting of health chiefs earlier this month.

Now two councillors in the south of the county, Heather Kidd and Tracey Huffer, have launched a campaign to try to stop any such move.

They say people in the areas they represent in Ludlow, Chirbury and Worthen would find it difficult to get to Telford especially if they were relying on public transport.

Councillor Kidd, of Chirbury and Worthen, said: It is critical that stroke victims are seen within one hour of the event and they can only be effectively treated at a specialist hospital unit.

Given the standard of ambulance response times at the moment, moving stroke services to Telford will jeopardise the lives and recovery chances of many residents in the west and south of the county.

Councillor Huffer, who represents Ludlow East, is also a nurse with 20 years experience.

She added: At a joint scrutiny meeting I attended in Telford, Shropshires healthcare trust said that there was the possibility of stroke services being delivered from only one site and this would probably be Princess Royal Hospital in Telford. This as been trialled earlier in the year when they were forced to deliver stroke services from only the Princess Royal when the lead consultant from Royal Shrewsbury left.

Stroke is one of the most devastating, feared things that can happen to someone and its absolutely crucial that professional medical help is given as soon as possible. Travel to PRH from the south of the county from experience is not easy, public travel is practically non -xistent.

Both councillors are writing to the chief executive of the trust, Peter Herring, urging the retention of this crucial service in Shrewsbury and are urging people to do the same.

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Moves to stop stroke services leaving Royal Shrewsbury Hospital

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