A local campaigner has branded the recent Future Fit investment as a "vanity project" for Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals Trust (SaTH).

Gill George, chairman of Shropshire Defend Our NHS, said the £300 million investment to build a new hospital to service Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin and mid Wales is "a way of paying for worse care".

The investment was confirmed last week by health secretary Jeremy Hunt, as the single biggest injection of its kind in the NHS for over a decade. The money will bring to fruition long-running Future Fit plans which seek to shake-up healthcare across the region, subject to a public consultation over the next few weeks.

Health bosses say the scale of funding will ensure "two vibrant hospitals" in Shrewsbury and Telford.

However, Ms George said following a SaTH board meeting, it was uncertain where the money would come from.

"What emerged after the meeting was the uncertainty of where the money will come from," she told the Advertizer.

"There is something called Project Phoenix, which would see money from private health care used for public health services, which would mean a long contract that public health care would have to pay back over 25 to 30 years.

"The £312m is not for patient care. It's for a shiny new hospital building.

"It's actually a way of paying for worse health care. It's a vanity project for SaTH which would decrease the number of nurses and therapists, we would lose an A&E and we'd have fewer beds.

"It's beggars belief - this is not investment in sustainable health care."

Ms George also said that the health services would be cut by £135m every year, which she believes should be spent on community hospitals and midwife-led units.

"There are plenty of services that need this money more," Ms George added.