Montgomeryshire MP Glyn Davies says he's "very disappointed" about the overnight closure of Accident and Emergency services at a Shropshire hospital.

The decision to close A&E services at Telford's Princess Royal Hospital between the hours of 8pm to 8am was ratified at a meeting of Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital's board this afternoon.

No start date has been given for the closures.

SATH say the move is being taken in response to the ‘significant and prolonged shortages in specialist A&E staff stretching back to 2015’.

Commenting, Glyn Davies MP said: "I am very disappointed that the SATH board are recommending the temporary closure of overnight A&E services at Telford. This is a direct consequence of the ongoing delay in the reforming of Shropshire and Mid Wales’ NHS services. The protection of patients must always be a priority, and regrettably I can do no more than support the SATH Board’s decision if it believes it is absolutely necessary in protecting patient safety.

"I have nothing but praise and sympathy for the staff and clinicians who work at both Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals, who do their absolute best in trying to maintain A&E services at both sites. Unfortunately, the shortage of consultants between both Hospitals, which has been epidemic for a number of years, has created huge pressure on both staff and patients, which SATH admits cannot be sustained any longer.

"It is now more vital than ever that the Future Fit programme delivers the crucial reform of NHS Services within Shropshire and Mid Wales - which has been so badly delayed over the last five years. It is up to politicians to ensure that hospital staff and clinicians are given the resources and means necessary to perform their jobs."

A statement released by SATH earlier this week said the decision "had not been taken lightly" and was based on feedback from staff who believed there were insufficient numbers of doctors to safely staff both of Shropshire's A&E departments.

"Doctors, nurses and other health professionals in emergency care, critical care and acute medicine, as well as other specialties, believe there are simply not enough doctors to safely staff both A&E sites 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week," it said.

"After a careful consideration of all the clinical issues it is being recommended that SaTH’s Board meeting on 27 September agrees to a temporary suspension of A&E services between 8pm and 8am at Princess Royal Hospital, Telford."

Dr Kevin Eardley, Consultant Renal Physician and Medical Director for Unscheduled Care, said: “We will be taking all steps possible to ensure that our plan minimises the impact of additional travel for patients, but we have to put patient safety first.

“The proposal will clearly have an impact on other services - including Women and Children’s services, stroke services, critical care and head and neck services - but our plans have been created and tested to ensure the impact on our patients is kept to the absolute minimum.”

“This is not something we ever wanted to implement, however, the care of our patients must come before every other consideration, and we cannot continue to look after our population safely, kindly and with the dignity they deserve with our current staffing levels and the demand we face every day.”

The closure will see Shrewsbury's Royal Shrewsbury Hospital as the only Accident and Emergency unit for Shropshire and Mid-Wales between the hours of 8pm and 8am.