Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Hospitals Transformation Programme will (a) increase capacity and (b) reduce delays at the Emergency Department at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.

The Hospital Transformation Programme (HTP) should enable greater capacity for patients with immediate or very serious life-threatening illness or injury at the emergency department (ED) at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital. There will be comprehensive support to the ED from all the medical and surgical specialists required. The new clinical model delivered through the HTP will improve the efficiency of the ED by ensuring patients are seen by the right teams at the right time. This means that the Department not only has the required capacity but also the systems to support immediate patient care and ensure a reduction in delays within the ED.

The Department has accepted the recommendations of the Independent Reconfiguration Panel that the HTP is the best way forward to improve acute hospital services for the Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Integrated Care System.