'Years of underfunding' hitting Shropshire health service, says Tory council leader
A council leader says government action is needed to address the issues hitting the county's health system.
Councillor Lezley Picton, Conservative leader of Shropshire Council, said the current pressures hitting the county are a result of "years of underfunding in Shropshire".
Two 'critical incidents' have been declared at the county's main hospital trust in one week.
Councillor Picton said government funding does not recognise the extra costs of providing services in a rural area.
She said: "This is yet another indication of years of underfunding in Shropshire which fails to recognise the extra costs of social care in a large rural area and a health system that is effectively broken.
“The sight of multiple ambulances queuing outside our hospitals, waiting for space to transfer patients, says it all."
She said the authority was working to ensure there are places for healthy patients to be discharged.
It comes after Shrewsbury & Telford Hospital NHS Trust said there were "ongoing issues with regards to discharging medically fit patients".
Councillor Picton said: “The council’s hospital discharge teams and care providers work so hard to support the health system, and we have some of the best performance in the region at helping to get people, particularly those who need care packages when they leave hospital, back home quickly to free up hospital bed space.
“As a council we spend a very significant amount of our budget on social care already and this pressure in the health system is just adding to this.
“Council teams and our partners in the care sector have been working around the clock and we play a critical role across the health care system’s response to critical incidents as well as day to day pressures on acute services."
The council leader said the problems had to be tackled by all of the county's health providers, working together.
She said: “There are many things that contribute to unnecessary hospital admissions, attendance at A&E and delays in hospital discharges. There are pressures across all sectors, and we must work together to resolve this.
“Couple this with no apparent prospect of resolving the investment that is required in SaTH as part of Future Fit and an ambulance service that is not performing in rural areas and you have a perfect storm brewing.
“These are more examples of how Shropshire Council does not receive fair funding, and we continue to lobby Government over this.
“This situation cannot go on and it is unacceptable. Shropshire’s residents deserve better.”
