Patients were being treated outside the doors of the Accident and Emergency department at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital today because of a backlog in casualty.

Some people were left waiting in the back of ambulances for up to 20 minutes today because of extreme pressure on the department.

Witnesses reported seeing ambulances queuing up outside the entrance to the casualty department.

Deputy chief executive of the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust Trish Rowson said all the patients left waiting for beds to become available had been in a “stable” condition.

“The hospital Accident and Emergency department was extremely busy this morning and as a consequence of that there were a number of ambulances waiting for a short time outside the A&E,” she said.

“All of the patients were stable and were attended by the ambulance crews. All the staff worked hard to get them into a hospital bed. The trust is working with the ambulance service to see how we can avoid further situations in the future.”

Mrs Rowson said the longest any patient had to wait before being admitted to A&E was about 20 minutes.

“This does not happen on a regular basis and we do everything we can to avoid situations like this,” she added. 

Figures presented to trust bosses yesterday showed that the Shrewsbury and Telford A&E units treated 62,914 patients between April and the end of October – 3,229 more than expected.

Meanwhile, it emerged today that Shropshire health managers could lose control of the county’s two main hospitals if cost-cutting measures and staff changes are not carried out.

And the debt-ridden hospitals have now been told to stump up £360,000 for the privilege of being told by a Government hit squad how to sort out their cash problems.

The figure was revealed by Tom Taylor, chief executive of the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust, amid a dire warning that Shropshire risks losing control of the Royal Shrewsbury and Princess Royal to a much bigger NHS organisation if the changes are not implemented.

By Tom Warren and Dave Morris