Rise in number of ambulance visits to Shropshire's hospitals
Hospital chiefs say delays in releasing ambulances from Shropshire's two main hospitals are partly due to a significant increase in the number of visits – with June seeing nearly 500 more attending than the same month in 2013.
Dr Edwin Borman, medical director at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, said that both Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Princess Royal Hospital Telford, were also seeing more ambulances arrive than predicted by West Midlands Ambulance Service – up to three times more on occasions.
Dr Borman's comments came after figures emerged showing that in June ambulance staff spent 278 hours waiting at the RSH and 115 at PRH. That compares to June 2015, when 90 hours were lost at RSH and 71 at PRH.
Dr Borman said: "Ambulance arrivals at our two emergency departments have increased year-on-year. For example, last month we saw 2,724 ambulances at our A&Es, which is an increase of nearly 130 on the same month last year and nearly 490 when compared to June 2013.
"This is further complicated when we see surges in the number of ambulances arriving which are above the numbers predicted by West Midlands Ambulance Service. We have on some occasions seen three times as many ambulances arriving at our emergency departments as were predicted, which clearly puts a great deal of demand on our staff.
"Staff in both our A&E departments, and our local ambulance teams, have been working hard to ensure patients are seen by our A&E staff as quickly as possible so they can reach the next stage of their care or be discharged in a timely fashion.
"The NHS, both nationally and locally, continues to see a big increase in demand. We have seen a 15 per cent increase in attendances at our A&E departments. Last year we had more than 121,000 attendances in our A&Es."
Dr Borman said the situation was illustrative of why the trust was seeking to create one emergency centre.
He said: "We currently do not have as many A&E consultants as we need and this is one of the problems we are seeking to address through our sustainable services programme. As well as helping us to attract new staff, the programme would also ensure that a new emergency centre would see only the most serious of cases, while the majority of people who currently attend our A&Es could still be seen at the same hospital as they are at present."
