Shropshire Star

EVERY bed in Shropshire's hospitals is taken, health bosses reveal

Every bed in Shropshire's two main hospitals is currently taken, health bosses have revealed.

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Simon Wright, chief executive of The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, said due to this some operations are being cancelled due to a lack of beds at both the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Telford's Princess Royal.

Simon Wright, chief executive of the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust

Hospital officials have said they are currently seeing a high number of frail, very sick patients who often need long stays in hospital to recover.

Debbie Kadum, chief operating officer, said over the last two weekends there were not enough patients well enough to be discharged to make way for new patients.

She said: "I don't think pressures will decrease. It is the sheer volume of demand that is the biggest issue for us."

It comes after it was revealed that another A&E consultant will leave the trust in June.

The latest departure, which has been blamed on delays to the Future Fit review of hospital services, will leave only four consultants employed for A&E at RSH and PRH.

The trust will now be looking at urgent action until a permanent solution is delivered through Future Fit.

Mr Wright said: "We are currently in the heart of winter. We have seen more demand coming into our hospitals than ever. And there have been more complex patients who are staying longer.

"This makes it very difficult. Every bed we have is occupied and we have had to pause some elective surgery so we can manage emergency patients. A number of external agencies have been visiting the hospitals to get assurance that during this busy period we are still providing safe care.

"I want to say a huge thank you to staff, who are doing an incredible job.

"We have never been as busy as we are at the moment. We have established a task force to manage demand safely but there is no respite. We are also seeing people presenting with flu in Telford at the moment meaning there are even more patients arriving at the hospital.

"We have an ageing population and it feels like we have seen a step-change in the deterioration of the health of the elderly population.

"We are working closely with the third sector and shifting our thinking to how we can play more of an active role in the community.

"Our partners are doing everything they can to help. There are no tensions and we are working as one to smooth the challenges out.

"There is no lack of commitment, passion or desire to sort this – we are simply overwhelmed at the moment. We have explored a number of ways to improve the situation in our emergency departments, but so far without success.

"Therefore, we will now need to explore further with all stakeholders, including members of the public, the options for implementing safe emergency care that remain open to us."

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