Shropshire A&Es still facing ‘problematic’ time
The situation faced by Shropshire's A&E departments continues to be "very problematic" according to a senior county health official.
David Evans, chief officer of Telford & Wrekin Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), said that the pressure on accident and emergency departments at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Princess Royal Hospital in Telford had led to daily calls with NHS officials.
Mr Evans was speaking at the latest meeting of the CCG's board, and only days after it was revealed that the performance on A&E waiting times for Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust (SaTH), which manages both hospitals, was the second worst in the country.
Mr Evans said: "A&E continues to be very problematic.
"There was some really good work done by all the partners over the festive period but we are seeing increased demand."
Mr Evans added that "daily escalation calls with NHS Improvement and NHS England" had been taking place in a bit to improve the situation.
He said "Over Christmas, New Year and into New Year a lot of work was going on with partners which enabled the hospitals to have a large number of empty beds which was helpful.
"But we still saw struggles with performance over the Christmas period, mainly because the trust was finding it difficult to process patients through in quick fashion."
Action plan
Christine Morris, executive nurse, lead for quality and safety, told the board that an action plan following a highly critical Care Quality Commission inspection of SaTH, is expected soon.
She said: "SaTH are producing their action plan following the CQC visit which we should get at the end of January."
Ms Morris told the meeting that SaTH had been reported as doing well to address the concerns raised in the inspection, which gave the trust a rating of "inadequate".
She said: "There is a view that SaTH are delivering on the milestones they have been set to improve the inadequate rating.
"The CQC are happy they are doing what is needed and how they are addressing areas that were deemed to be inadequate."
She added: "It is a long process and it will not happen overnight."
Figures in a new report to Telford & Wrekin health commissioners show nearly a third of patients – 32 per cent – were not seen at Telford and Shrewsbury’s emergency departments within the target four-hour time-frame in November.
The government target is for 95 per cent of patients to be treated within four hours.
