Telford and The Wrekin Lib Dems call for halt to A and E local implementation
Telford & Wrekin Liberal Democrats are calling for a halt to the implementation of Future Fit to ask health bosses to consider the impact to all healthcare services across Shropshire and not just emergency care.
In a joint statement, The Wrekin's Lib Dem candidate Thomas Janke & Telford's Shana Roberts have said:
"The borough of Telford & Wrekin has one of the fastest growing populations in the country. This downgrade to our hospital's A&E department is entirely unacceptable. We've seen yesterday our local Conservative candidates celebrating that the A&E simply remains open. This is NOT a true reflection of what was being promised to the people of Telford and The Wrekin by the previous Conservative Health Secretary.
We need to look at health services across the board not just emergency care. An A&E Local or simply saying "save our NHS" isn't enough for the people of Telford & Shropshire. We are calling for a full review as per the original Future Fit plans set out four years ago. We cannot continue to send everyone through our A&E because there are no social care plans in place and no beds at mental health care facilities. Liberal Democrats have committed to giving an extra £35 billion over the term of the next parliament to fix this."
Thomas Janke & Shana Roberts believe stopping Brexit is the only way to resolve the staffing crisis in our NHS:
"Any prospective parliamentary candidate claiming to truly have the best interest of our constituents at heart, would not be pursuing Brexit at a time when nurses and doctors are returning home to mainland Europe. Our hospital is being downgraded. It doesn't matter if it is a red or blue Brexit, either one will damage the NHS and the future prosperity of our nation. Less money means less investment into our public services, it's as simple as that. It's about time all parties started standing up for the best interests of the people, wasting money on another top down reorganisation like Labour or the Tories plans to sell our NHS to Donald Trump is not what we want or need."
The Liberal Democrats' flagship policy of an additional 1p of income tax is set to raise up to £7bn a year, a ring-fenced fund to help deal with the financial shortfall in all aspects of our healthcare system. Also acute, social and mental health care will benefit from the remain bonus of £50 billion should we stop Brexit.