A Shropshire MP is to write to ambulance bosses amid claims that vehicles transferring patients to Birmingham are being kept in the city for hours – with county nursing staff on board.

Concerns have been raised over the increasing use of county ambulances and paramedics in Birmingham and Wolverhampton following the merger of ambulance stations.

Wrekin MP Mark Pritchard is to write to chief executive of the Shropshire Ambulance Trust Anthony Marsh to raise his concerns.

He said: “I will be asking for full explanations on two issues, one is why ambulances from Shropshire are increasingly being called into Birmingham meaning their response time is lengthened in coming back to service the county.

“I will also be asking why some nursing staff who are on board in specialist cases, such as paediatrics, are having to effectively be passengers when the ambulance is responding to other calls.”

The Conservative MP said he understood some crews were called away from the county during shifts and were not returning for a number of hours.

It is believed a patient from the Princess Royal Hospital was taken to Birmingham accompanied by a nurse on Sunday and while the crew was there they were given three jobs. The nurse was on the ambulance for five hours.

A spokesman for West Midlands Ambulance Service said: “We try to keep the vehicles within the area that they work in but that is not always possible.”

The spokesman said hospitals were aware that patient care was a priority and if a 999 call came in on the return journey nurses may have to go with the ambulance as well.

A spokesman for the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust said: “In the event an ambulance was called away to deal with an emergency then the accompanying nurse would be provided with alternative transport to bring them back to their base hospital as a matter of urgency.”