Since this crowd funding page was launched, we have had the Health Secretary and the Prime Minister state that our A&E at PRH will remain open.

That’s progress. However, there are two caveats here: 1) they mean 12 hours full consultant led A&E with an extended night time walk in service,  'blue light' cases going elsewhere 2) Hospital Management have started to wriggle out of even this commitment. We have had the lead to Future Fit (the person who came up with the full closure plan for Telford's A&E and Women & Children's Services) claim he doesn’t understand how this could work and publicly suggesting 12 hours is not really 12 hours after all.

Fortunately, this week the solicitors for this group wrote to the hospital management demanding a 7 day response confirming their position.

The pressure is on. They can’t just take services from Telford and think we will stay quiet. The issue was raised on the national stage with the PM making the same public commitments as the Health Secretary. 

This crowdfund group got a mention on ITV. Thank you for all you have done to get us this far. Please share this link. The only way to hold hospital management to account and get our voices heard is this legal challenge. Please keep sharing.

We hit our target 

Thanks to a  fantastic £200 donation from the Tayleur Arms pub in Longdon Upon Tern we have now hit our target! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All of you wonderful people who care about our community and care about our Princess Royal Hospital.

So what happens now?

A legal case is now being opened on behalf of Telford residents, who will be the client in the case. An expert barrister will be appointed to assess the merits of a legal challenge to Future Fit. 

I will be giving the lawyers information on why a challenge should be brought. I will be asking the Council to submit the concerns they say they have about the process, to the lawyers, in order to strengthen our case. The Council has not contributed financially to this community case, but they do have many concerns about the process.

In the event the barrister takes the view there is a prospect of a successful case, then the residents will qualify for legal aid and we go to court for a Judicial Review. 

What an amazing effort by our community, passionate about our hospital, passionate about the future of our town; determined to stand up for our area; determined not to be ignored; determined to keep our Princess Royal. 

More good news

In Parliament on Tuesday I spoke about our affection for and emotional attachment to the Princess Royal. I spoke about our right as a community to be treated as of equal value, dignity and respect as anyone else when it comes to our health needs.

The minister confirmed that full A&E would now remain between 8:00am and 8:00pm and that the 24/7 walk in would be extended to become more than an urgent care centre. This is great progress and shows that putting on the pressure yields results. 

After a debate in Parliament yesterday which you can read here in full - we are in touching distance of hitting our target and opening a legal case. You can read the write up in the Shropshire Star here. People have been amazing!

Admittedly, there were some concessions from the hospital management communicated by minsters during the debate, which is progress.

It has been confirmed that some form of A&E will stay at Princess Royal and of course this is fantastic. There will also be 24/7 walk in - but we do not know at what level and of course the Women & Children's Centre is still to go.

That it is only now that hospital management is starting to think about Telford's needs after all these years of protesting, when Telford was ignored, no matter what we did or said, just shows how important this legal pressure is. Thank you.

This is why we are mounting this legal challenge. Telford's Princess Royal A&E has saved the lives of people in our town. 

Read this powerful personal testimony:

"My name is Sarah. I live in Telford. I am mother to Alfie who is 5 years old. Alfie has Downs Syndrome. 

In April 2018, at night, our son Alfie began to haemorrhage and he was taken to A& E. Whilst we were in A&E awaiting to be assessed our nightmare began. Alfie started to have a massive haemorrhage (blood was pouring from his mouth & nose & you could not even see his face or his beautiful blonde hair). I burst through the curtain in our bay and was immediately told to run with him to Resus. There was so much blood. After what seemed an age as they worked to stabilise him, he was transported his bleeding continued all the way up. He was rushed in for an emergency operation to cauterise the bleed.

Then our world truly fell apart.

He failed to breath in air post-surgery. It took the theatre staff 3hrs to get him stable enough and was transported to Royal Stoke where he spent a week intubated on a ventilator, before being strong and well enough to be transferred back to PRH for 4 more days of HDU care.

The point of telling you this is quite simple. If A&E at PRH had been closed Alfie would have had his 2nd and massive haemorrhage whilst still being transported to wherever they deemed to take us, without the Resus and Theatres needed on site.

I have chills just thinking of what the alternative outcome would of been for our beautiful son. Put simply, having the A&E open 24/7saved Alfie’s life.

We cannot allow lives to be lost before someone realises this proposed decision is sheer lunacy. Telford is experiencing a building boom, whereby more and more homes are being built, attracting more and more families to the area but yet a 24/7 A&E & purpose built state of the art Women’s & Children department is earmarked for closure.

We cannot let this happen. A&E saved our son Alfie."

As this amazing campaign hits £1,200 in just three days, (thank you wonderful people of Telford) we ask our local council, to match fund our efforts, so the legal case can start now.

The Council has set aside significant public money to campaign against the Future Fit plan to move vital hospital services from Telford to Shrewsbury. 

We make the case that after 6 years the time for campaigning is over and we need action. It is time to act and we ask that a small amount of this tax payer money for campaigning against Future Fit is given to match the donations of residents, so that residents can open a legal case now. MP Lucy Allan writes to Telford's Council Leader below, who has previously confirmed the Judicial Review might be the way forward. We will be out of time if we don't act now!

As we hit nearly £1,000 in the first three days of this legal fundraiser we have great news.

On Tuesday 5th November, the final day of this Parliament I have another debate on the Princess Royal Hospital. This is a chance to put many of our concerns on record but also to talk about this campaign and draw attention the reasons why we are having to do this.

As the MP I have been raising Princess Royal in Parliament repeatedly. There have been debates, Health questions and PMQs going back to my first days in Parliament - over 20 specific interventions which I will list on my website.

I first got involved in campaigning against Future Fit in 2013 two years before becoming an MP, meeting the then chief executive Peter Herring who told me what the outcome would be - even then. In the years that followed I would make my way to Shrewsbury on a regular basis to make the case for Telford to the Management making these decisions. They took not notice. I would get drowned out and talked over by my male colleagues MPs for Wales and Shropshire whose constituents stood to benefit. So this time, on Tuesday 5th November they will have to listen!

An amazing 51 wonderful people have kicked off our CrowdJustice bid with £777 in just two days: today we are asking community figures to contribute.

We are inviting the 54 cross party councillors on Telford & Wrekin Council to each pledge £5. The council recently passed a unanimous motion at a special EGM condeming Future Fit. It has long campaigned against NHS management's plans and are to be congratulated for providing community leadership on this issue.

The Council is concerned about using taxpayers' money to fund a Judicial Review, even though they have considered it. This is why we have gone down the CrowdJustice route.This route allows residents to bring their own case using legal aid once we hit our target.

We have had an amazing offer of support of matched funding for every £5 donation made by each of our 54 councillors! That's a total £540 extra for the fund. 

Cllr Veronica Fletcher has already generously donated. Thank you Veronica for your support. 

Thank you so much we are off to a fantastic start - with £500 already raised.

Tell your friends, they can donate as little as £1 and it all makes a difference.

Judicial Review (the legal challenge to the Future Fit process) is strictly time limited. So we are asking Telford & Wrekin Council to match fund your efforts to help get us over the line as soon as possible.

The money from this page will fund a specialist barrister to assess whether a Judicial Review could succeed. If there is a case to answer the Judicial Review will then be funded by legal aid. 

You are making such a difference. Thank you. Keep sharing the link!

#TelfordTogether #StopFutureFit