One of two accident and emergency departments serving North Powys is no longer threatened with overnight closure, health bosses say.

Accident and Emergency services at Telford's Princess Royal Hospital were due to close overnight from December due to staff shortages, but the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) says it has secured sufficient numbers of middle grade doctors and nurses needed to allow the A&E department to stay open 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week.

A statement from SaTH said that a mixture of locum and agency middle grade doctors are now committed to rotas in the A&E until the end of March 2019.

The Trust has contracted more than the minimum of seven middle grade and 15 specialist nurses needed to keep both Accident & Emergency Departments open, and following the arrival of nine new doctors in December they say they will have more middle grade doctors on the books than at any time in the last seven years.

Health campaigner and county councillor Joy Jones said it was "good news for Powys"

"It's good news for us as it takes the pressure off Shrewsbury and makes sure that patients from Powys get seen in an appropriate time," she said.

"Hopefully it will also make sure that ambulances are released quickly so that they can be back in Powys to help the next patient.

"It'll also be a big relief to people from the Telford area that they are able to access their local A&E overnight."

Cllr Joy Jones - "Good news for Powys"

Simon Wright, Chief Executive at SaTH, said: “This is fantastic news. We had said all along that we didn’t want to close either of our A&Es overnight, but that we simply couldn’t keep both open because of the staff shortages in our Emergency Departments.

“We have been working tirelessly behind the scenes, not just in the last few months but over the last few years to put together all the pieces of the “jigsaw” so that the trust has a compelling offer to attract staff and that hard work has paid off.”

Ben Reid, Chair of SaTH, said: “This is an outstanding result which few thought was possible. It’s a real tribute to Simon, to the leadership team and especially to the staff already working in Emergency Departments who’ve done so much to keep the service running for the people of Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and Mid Wales.”

“It really goes to show what can be achieved when local people rally round alongside national bodies and pull in the same direction. When that happens, this hospital trust is far greater than the sum of its parts.”

The trust says that a long-term solution to their recruitment challenges is dependent upon the outcome of the NHS Future Fit consultation, the responses to which are currently being analysed.