20 March 2020

Next week’s meeting of The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) Board is to become largely ‘virtual’, with members of the public being urged not to attend.

SaTH’s Board meetings are normally held in public, but in order to reduce the risk of spreading coronavirus, a decision has been made to hold the meeting remotely for those who do not feel able to attend.

Some members of the Board will still attend in person, with the meeting being moved from the Princess Royal Hospital to the Shropshire Conference Centre (SECC) at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.

Plans are being made to live stream future meetings, but the technology to allow that to happen is not yet in place.

Board papers will be available on the Trust website at www.sath.nhs.uk next week and minutes will be made available after the meeting.

Members of the public can submit up to two questions about items on the agenda only by 12pm on Wednesday by emailing sath.communicationsteam@nhs.net These will then be discussed at the meeting and answers will be included in the minutes.

Ben Reid, SaTH Chair, said: “We are committed to conducting our business in an open and transparent way. However, in these incredibly unusual times, we are asking people not to attend our Board meeting.

“It is everyone’s responsibility to help reduce the spread of this virus. Everything that is discussed will be available in the minutes from the meeting and we are happy to take submitted questions based on the Board agenda.”