The recent and ongoing debate about reorganising the Royal Shrewsbury and Princess Royal Hospitals should bring home to us all that yet again Central Government does not understand rural areas such as ours. Centralising services in an area where the hospitals serve huge swathes of Mid Wales, all of Shropshire and parts of other surrounding Counties will inevitably cause real hardship to patients and relatives alike with increased travel distances and times. Cleobury understands this better than most after the farce of the down-grading of Kidderminster Hospital.
Heather Kidd said “Why do they need to Centralise Funding? The PCT for Shropshire receives far less than neighbouring Wolverhampton. The formula for giving out funding just does not work. Why should Wolverhampton people be funded moderately well when Shropshire’s people have less spent on their health?”
“The same is of course true for the funding of our schools with children in leafy Surrey receiving much more than our children. Young people in some London Boroughs receive nearly £7,000 each, whereas here in Shropshire it is less than £4,000. There will always be reasons why some urban areas need extra funding but the gap is now so wide that it is now seriously eating into the services that can be delivered here.
Heather continued “Supporting people in Shropshire is also acknowledge by Government as being under funded by at least £1 million. Keeping people living at home and independently is a priority – but the funding falls short. Whilst I understand that the public services will have funding cuts, it is time that which ever Government we have next year addresses this fundamental issue for us here in Cleobury, Ludlow, Bridgnorth and their huge surrounding area. We are told that Education and Health are to be ring fenced. If we are to have a more secure New Year, we will need some common sense, understanding of rural issues and a little redistribution of funding too!”