5 June 2016

NHS Future Fit News

Local people are being encouraged to find out more about the Future Fit consultation at the first two public exhibition events in Telford and Shrewsbury this week.

The drop-in events run from 3.30pm to 7.30pm and are open to everyone. NHS doctors, nurses and other healthcare staff will be on hand to answer questions, to give everyone the chance to find out more about the proposed changes to services at The Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and The Princess Royal Hospital.

The first public exhibition will be held at Meeting Point House in Telford town centre on Wednesday 6 June, followed by the Shrewsbury event at Shrewsbury Town Football Club on Thursday 7 June. These are the first of eight large scale public events currently planned for the consultation which launched on 30th May and will run for 14 weeks until midnight on 4 September.

Mr David Evans, Chief Officer at NHS Telford & Wrekin Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) said: “These exhibitions are the perfect opportunity for people to really understand the proposals and to ask the questions that are important to them. The people answering the questions are the ones who have been involved in designing the new model of care so everyone who attends has the chance to really understand what it means for them.”

Dr Simon Freeman, Accountable Officer for NHS Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group said: “We know people always have concerns about changes to their health services, but it’s really important that people get their answers from the people that fully understand what it means for you, the doctors and nurses that provide your care in the hospitals. We are hoping for a big turnout at all of our public events and are encouraging people to have the one to one conversations with the people that really understand the changes.”

A further six public exhibitions have currently been arranged throughout June, July and August, details of which can be found on the ‘Get Involved’ page.

All public exhibitions will be staffed from 3.30pm to 7.30pm. In addition to one to one discussions, the public exhibition will have videos playing to explain changes, senior people from the CCGs to explain how the consultation works, the opportunity for people to complete surveys and Healthwatch will be attending all events in Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and Powys Community Health Council at the event in Newtown.

The first two events are:

  • Wednesday 6 June from 3.30pm to 7.30pm at the Walker Room, Meeting Point House, Southwater Square, Telford.
  • Thursday 7 June from 3.30pm to 7.30pm at the Sovereign Suite, Shrewsbury Town Football Club, Oteley Road, Shrewsbury.

There are many ways to get involved in the consultation. You can:

  • Attend a public event or meeting in public
  • Pick up consultation documents and surveys at one of our 70 plus pop-up events or view them online
  • Fill out our online survey
  • Complete a printable survey and post it free of charge to FREEPOST NHS FF CONSULTATION
  • Write to us at: FREEPOST NHS FF CONSULTATION
  • Email us at: nhsfuturefit@nhs.net
  • Call us to request materials: 0300 3000 903 (24-hour answer machine)
  • Follow us on social media: @NHSFutureFit | facebook.com/nhsff

In addition to this week’s events, Mr Mark Cheetham, Surgeon at Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Hospital Trust (SaTH), will be taking control of the @NHSFutureFit Twitter profile on Tuesday 5 June from 7pm to 8pm to answer questions about the Future Fit proposals. Visit www.twitter.com/nhsfuturefit.