A Powys healthcare campaigner has said she was hoping for "thorough action", after the healthcare trust which operates Shropshire's two main hospitals was rated as "inadequate" by the Care Quality Commission(CQC) this week.

The report, released in the early hours of this morning, showed that overall Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust(SaTH) was now rated as “Inadequate”, and the organisation is also now one of 20 trusts in England in the support regime known as “special measures”.

Powys healthcare campaigner Cllr Joy Jones said changes were needed in order to move forward.

"Given the recent announcement that SATH has been placed in special measures, it was my firm expectation that the CQC report would say they were inadequate," she said.

"The key thing we will all want to see is rapid and thorough action to address the recommendations in today’s report.

"As patients when we hear that hospitals have gone into special measures it causes concern and fear that we may not get the quality of care that we feel we should receive, but I'm sure that the medical staff will work hard to make sure that people receive the correct care and treatments needed and that they are entitled to.

"Let's hope that SATH can move this forward quickly and address all the issues raised so that the service can become one of outstanding quality and a credit to the NHS. "

In response, a statement from SaTH said they had already taken steps to address concerns raised by the CQC, in particular those relating to staffing levels in the Accident and Emergency departments at the trust's two hospitals.

Earlier this month SaTH announced the recruitment of nine middle grade doctors, with further permanent appointments to follow alongside specialist A&E nurses. As a result the threat to suspend A&E services overnight at Princess Royal Hospital (PRH) in Telford was lifted last week.

Chief Executive Simon Wright said: “You cannot be unaffected by a report like this. I’m sorry and disappointed that we have not made as much progress to tackle the issues and challenges that the Trust faces as we all want.

“But people should not lose sight of many things that SaTH does not just well but significantly better than many other trusts around the country.”

The statement from SaTH said the trust exceeds the national Referral to Treatment target and is ranked 18 out of 126 trusts. Its diagnostic waiting times are among the best in the country with the latest figures revealing that 99.69% of patients received a diagnostic test within six weeks and its cancer performance sees it ranked 51 out of 131 trusts in England.

They say that in the NHS Friends and Family Test, almost 98% of inpatients, 96% of outpatients, more than 96% of A&E attendees and almost 99% of maternity users would recommend their hospitals.

Mr Wright added: “I know how hard staff are working, how passionate they are about what they do and the care they provide. We will take to heart the CQC’s findings just as we welcome the extra support that is coming with special measures, to double down on the need to get things right and improve for the people we serve.”