A DELEGATION from Welshpool Town Council is set to meet health chiefs to discuss the consultation on changes to health services at hospitals in Shrewsbury and Telford.

Last week the Joint Committee of NHS Shropshire CCG and NHS Telford & Wrekin CCG agreed to go to the public consultation phase on the changes to health services at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and The Princess Royal Hospital in Telford.

This includes a preferred option of the Emergency Care site at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Planned Care site at the Princess Royal Hospital.

Welshpool Town Council has said that it will hold a referendum on the options that will feed in to the consultation which should last three months.

Town clerk Robert Robinson said: “We will be meeting with them next week.

“We need to know when the consultation starts so that we can go ahead and set a date for the referendum.

“There are other details that we also need to know such as how will the consultation be worded?

“Then we will be able to put together a question or questions for the referendum.”

When a formal public consultation is launched, the CCGs will ask local people their views on which hospital would become the Emergency Care site and which hospital would become the Planned Care site.

Health campaigners in Powys are urging people here to take part in the consultation, in case the decision is changed due to the weight of public feeling elsewhere.

David Evans, chief officer for Telford and Wrekin CCG, and Simon Freeman, accountable officer for Shropshire CCG, said: “We recognise this is an issue that attracts strong emotions and we heard people expressing their feelings here this evening, as we have at many previous meetings.

“We know that people want us to make decisions that move us towards a public consultation to allow them to have their say.

“We have done this based on the evidence in front of us, which we have considered objectively in an open and honest way.”

The decision to take the proposals to consultation will now be looked at by local scrutiny boards and NHS England before a date is set.

When a formal public consultation is launched, the CCGs will ask local people their views on which hospital would become the Emergency Care site and which hospital would become the Planned Care site.

David Evans and Simon Freeman added: “This process has always been about making decisions in the best interests of all the patients who rely upon these services, whether they are from Telford & Wrekin, Shropshire or Mid Wales.

A spokesman from Future Fit confirmed the meeting would take place.