Fewer ambulances than predicted turning up at Shropshire's hospitals, bosses say
Fewer ambulances than predicted are turning up at Shropshire’s hospitals, the region’s health bosses have said.
West Midlands Ambulance Service said in the first six weeks of the year it had conveyed 170 fewer patients to Royal Shrewsbury and Princess Royal hospitals than it had forecast.
It comes after Simon Wright, chief executive of Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (Sath), spoke about the challenges of growing numbers of ambulances turning up at the county’s hospitals.
Last week, he said an ambulance was arriving every 10 minutes and PRH had seen nearly double the usual amount on a recent Sunday.
WMAS spokesman Murray MacGregor said staff at the hospitals are told daily how many ambulances can be expected to turn up.
He said demand on that particular Sunday had been higher than predicted, but usually it takes fewer patients to RSH and PRH than predicted.
According to figures from WMAS, it expected to send 2,521 ambulances to RSH and 3,062 to PRH in the first six weeks of the year.
It actually sent 2,420 to RSH and 2,993 to PRH.
Mr MacGregor said: “We provide all hospitals with a forecast of how many patients we are expecting to take in. This year we have taken fewer patients to RSH and PRH than what was forecast.
“Mondays have always been an incredibly busy day. That’s regularly our busiest day of the week.
“We do see spikes in demand but we are an organisation which plans very carefully so we have the right resources on at the right time.
“We do work very closely with Sath to try and make sure they are aware. We provide them with a forecast and they can see live how many patients are being taken in.
“We will continue to work very closely with them.”
About a third of patients arrive at the county’s A&Es in ambulances.
Last week, Mr Wright said the number of ambulances arriving at the county’s hospitals, particularly in groups, was proving difficult to plan for.
He said a lot of ambulances were arriving within a five-hour window and Sundays and Mondays proved most challenging.
It was recently revealed that plans are in the pipeline for ambulances to be taken to hospitals with the shortest waiting times, rather than the nearest geographically in a bid to reduce handover times.
