Shropshire's A&Es have busiest day of the year
Almost 390 people visited Shropshire’s two main A&E departments at the start of the week - their busiest day of the year so far.
Hospital officials said Monday saw 383 people visiting Shropshire’s two main A&E departments at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Princess Royal Hospital Telford.
The government sets targets for every hospital in the country to see 95 per cent of patients in less than four hours.
In February 75.8 per cent of patients at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital were dealt with in the time period, according to figures due to be presented to the board of Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust on Thursday.
The figures also revealed there were 1,077patients who waited more than four hours from decision to admit to admission in February.
The latest figures have prompted officials to repeat calls for people to stay away from the emergency departments unless they have a genuine emergency
Sara Biffen, deputy chief operating officer at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, has previously said: "We know that for some, a journey to A&E is essential, but we also know there are many people who do not need the specialist care that our A&Es provide.
“Once again we would ask people to please think carefully about alternative local services.
“These do not provide less of a service for non-urgent conditions, but can help people avoid a lengthy and stressful visit to hospital.”
The A&E pressure comes amid continuing controversy about the stalled Future Fit review and the wish of hospital bosses for a single specialist A&E to be based at RSH.
