Hospital bosses are still trying to discover the reason behind the soaring number of outpatients being seen at clinics at the Royal Shrewsbury and Telford’s Princess Royal.Latest figures have shown another dramatic rise – from April to the end of August the level of GP referrals increased between 12 and 16 per cent compared to the same period last year – against predictions.

A “considerable” number of consultant-to-consultant referrals also continue to be made and the nature and clinical requirement for these is being investigated.

Under current contracts with the primary care trusts, fewer people were expected to be referred but the total number of outpatients seen by the end of August stood at 116,107 – 12,757 more than had been planned for.

Of these 7,467 were new outpatients and 5,290 were follow-ups.

A report to the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust board on Thursday says discussions with the primary care trust are on-going.

But the same performance report also reveals some positive trends relating to key targets.

The trust’s MRSA target for 2008/09 is to have no more than 23 cases of MRSA bacteraemia (bloodstream infection) and last month there was just one, bringing the total since April to five.

The patient was from out of county and was infected when admitted.

Regarding the C.Diff bug, the target is to have no more than 225 cases or recurrences, and by the end of August the figure was 45, amid continuing work on antiobiotic prescribing, cleaning, and the isolation of patients with diarrhoea.

A team has been in place since the beginning of the summer to monitor hospital cleanliness.

Since the beginning of June the trust has been exceeding the Government demand that 98 per cent of A&E patients must be seen, treated, admitted or discharged in less than four hours.

But the report carries a warning that there appears to be a growing number of delayed discharges across both hospital sites, and which could impact on target performance.

By Dave Morris