AN open letter signed by more than 700 people has been sent to Philip Dunne, the Conservative candidate for Ludlow at the general election on Thursday.
It pleads with him to make a commitment that if elected as MP he will fight to retain accident and emergency units in both Shrewsbury and Telford.
The move comes after a hustings meeting held at Ludlow School at which Mr Dunne was the only one of the five candidates who declined to commit on retaining the accident and emergency units at both the Royal Hospital in Shrewsbury and the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford.
Simon Slater (Labour), Charlotte Barnes (Liberal Democrat), David Kelly (UKIP) and Janet Phillips (The Green Party) all told more than 200 people at Ludlow School that they would fight for retention of both units.
But Mr Dunne, who has been MP for Ludlow since 2005, said that he would make up his mind when all the information is available.
Closing one of the two accident and emergency units, or perhaps building a completely new one, are among a range of options that form part of a review of health care in Shropshire.
“I have been a strong advocate for quality healthcare for South Shropshire since first elected,” said Mr Dunne.
“I am campaigning for all our community hospitals, including Ludlow, being upgraded to urgent care centres as part of the NHS Future Fit review in Shropshire.
“I have also been very clear that we need to secure quality, clinically safe accident and emergency cover in Shropshire for all residents of south Shropshire.
"At present the alternative proposals led by NHS clinicians are being developed, with business cases prepared for each, prior to a full public consultation later this year.
“This is the time when politicians and the people of Shropshire will be able to give their views to secure the optimal design of emergency provision across Shropshire for coming decades.
“I will decide which, if any, of these alternatives to support, once the business cases are available and the clinical and other arguments are presented. I am not going to pre-empt the results of this work.
"I shall take a clear stand based on the full facts and what is best for all residents of the whole of South Shropshire, to ensure we maintain clinically safe accident and emergency in the county.”
The letter pleads with Mr Dunne to reconsider his position.
"Of the five Parliamentary candidates standing in Ludlow constituency, you are the only one who will not oppose the closure of the accident and emergency unit at Shrewsbury," the letter reads.
"We believe that we need both our accident and emergency units – at the Royal Shrewsbury and the Princess Royal – for a population of 540,000 people across 2000 square miles, in Shropshire, Powys and Telford and Wrekin.
"The evidence is that longer ambulance journey times lead to more deaths.
"We have great concern for the NHS as a whole, and ask that you watch the powerful film Sell Off, made by senior doctors who describe the threats to our NHS.
"In particular, we strongly urge you to reconsider, and to do all that you can to safeguard our accident and emergency in Shrewsbury."