We now face the gravest threat ever to our hospital – the overnight closure of its Accident and Emergency department.

We have long warned about the threats to services at the Princess Royal Hospital (PRH) in Telford and we have fought these every step of the way.

This is due to start in November and will, we believe, have disastrous consequences for the PRH that so many of you fought long and hard to bring to Telford, by the far the area’s biggest town.

The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust which runs the PRH admits this closure is avoidable, at this moment in time, it is still going ahead.

The Trust says it must happen because it doesn’t have enough middle grade A&E doctors and nurses to run PRH’s A&E overnight safely.

The Secretary of State for Health and top bosses in the NHS have the power to stop this now. We must take matters into our own hands.

Together and united in our opposition to this closure, we can force them to take action.

If the overnight closures goes ahead:

• Around 720 adults and children per month will have to travel to the Royal Shrewsbury or another hospital to attend the A&E instead of the PRH
• On average 270 adult and 60 child admissions to hospital per month will be diverted to Wolverhampton or Stoke
• The Trust stands to lose £3.4m a year

4 ways you can help to prevent the avoidable closure of Telford's A&E

If, like us, you care about your hospital, I urge you to show your support in as many of the ways below as you can:

1. March for our A&E

Join our March for Our A&E in Wellington on Sunday 4 November at 12 noon. The march will start in the town centre and end with a rally at Charlton School.

You can tell us if you are planning to attend by joining our Facebook event where we will be update people and people can discuss the event with each other.

Full details including the march route and muster points will be announced closer to the date.

2. Write to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

Urge the secretary of State for Health and Social Care to intervene by emailing or writing to him.

Send your emails to matt.hancock.mp@parliament.uk

Or write to him at the following address:

Rt Hon Matt Hancock MP
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
House of Commons
Westminster, London W1A 0AA

3. Help refurbish three houses on the hospital’s site

There is a pressing need for accommodation for our junior and middle grade doctors.

Working with the SaTH, we have identified three houses that the Trust owns in the grounds of the Princess Royal Hospital that could be brought back into use to house our junior doctors and our middle grade doctors. So we are calling on  businesses in the borough to help refurbish three houses on the hospital’s site in Telford by offering their skilled tradespeople.

When completed, the houses would accommodate junior and middle grade doctors for free to encourage more staff to come to Telford. SaTH will then be the only hospital trust in England to offer free on site accommodation to staff.

Doing this will means that SaTH will be the only hospital Trust in England to provide free accommodation to those junior and middle grade doctors that we so desperately need at our hospital.

If you are a local business that can help us fit a kitchen, fit a bathroom, paint, decorate, provide materials, email us - NHS4All@telford.gov.uk

4. Publicise the petition anyway you can

The obvious way to help is to share the link to our petition on social media or email it to your friends and family.

However, you could also show the link around your workplace, church, school or other social groupings. If you run a local Facebook group why not share the petition there?

The closure of PRH's A&E affects people beyond Telford and Wrekin as this closure will place a strain on neighbouring hospitals. Please share the petition with people wherever they may be, be it Shropshire, The Black Country or Staffordshire. This affects them to.

Thank you for your support

Together we are stronger and together we must do all we can to make sure this avoidable closure never happens. We will be heard.