Shropshire hospitals are fourth worst in country on four-hour A&E target

The latest NHS figures show that during December 6,565 patients waited more than four hours to be either admitted, transferred or discharged from A&E at Shrewsbury & Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH).

The trust manages A&E departments at both Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Princess Royal Hospital in Telford.

SaTH has been in special measures since 2018, and has been pushing for progress on its delayed £312m 'Future Fit' Hospitals Transformation Process.

The figures mean that only 44.7 per cent of A&E patients at the hospitals in December were admitted, transferred or discharged within the government target of four hours.

Only Wye Valley NHS Trust with 44.3 per cent, Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust with 42.6 per cent, and Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust with 39.6 per cent, recorded worse performances on the target.

The figures are an illustration of the pressure on the county's emergency hospitals, with frequent long waits for ambulance handovers – some as long as 32 hours.

The problem is also a direct result of difficulties in finding community care support to discharge medically fit patients and free up more space within the trust's hospitals.

It comes as the number of people waiting more than 12 hours in A&E departments in England from a decision to admit to actually being admitted rose above 50,000 for the first time.

At SaTH 962 patients in December waited more than 12 hours.

Sara Biffen, Acting Chief Operating Officer for The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, said they were doing everything they could to improve the situation for patients.

She said: “The data reflects that our hospitals continue to be under severe pressure. We along with other hospitals are experiencing high levels of Covid and flu this winter, in both patients attending our Emergency Departments (ED) and staff.”

“We are sorry that patients are facing long waits as we continue to prioritise those with the most critical needs. All available additional space within the Trust is open and we, along with partners, are working hard to release additional capacity in the community to support patients who are ready to be discharged from hospital as quickly as possible, to free up beds for patients who most need our support.”

“The new Acute Assessment Floor at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital is now open and Ambulance Decision Areas (ADA) established to improve care for our patients.”

New NHS England data shows that across the country 54,532 people waited longer than 12 hours in December, up 44.1 per cent from 37,837 in November and the highest total in records dating back to August 2010.

The number waiting at least four hours from the decision to admit to admission also hit a new record high of 170,283 in December, up 18.3 per cent from 143,949 the previous month.

A total of 65 per cent of patients in England were seen within four hours in A&Es last month, down from 68.9 per cent in November and the worst performance on record.

The operational standard is that at least 95 per cent of patients attending A&E should be admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours, but this has not been met nationally since 2015.

The region's ambulance response times have also failed to meet national targets.

The average West Midlands Ambulance Service response time for the most urgent incidents, Category 1, in the region in December was nine minutes and 14 seconds in December – well in excess of the NHS target of seven minutes.

Meanwhile, response times for urgent conditions such as heart attacks and strokes, Category 2, are also the longest on record, with patients waiting one hour and 31 minutes for help – more than five times longer than the 18-minute target.

In December 2021, the average Category 2 response in the region was 14 minutes and 46 seconds.

North Shropshire's Liberal Democrat MP Helen Morgan said: "These damning figures show how the Government has failed people in Shropshire and across the country.

“Conservative neglect means it is now normal to wait 90 minutes if you suffer a heart attack and – and often much longer – and to wait hours and hours once you get to A&E.

“Every week I speak to a different family who have been forced to watch a loved one suffer in pain as they wait for help to arrive. Too many people have died because of these heartbreaking delays.

“How much more evidence do ministers need? They either don’t care or just can’t grasp the scale of this problem.

“Our NHS isn't just at breaking point – it’s splitting at its very seams.

“In just two years the Government has allowed ambulance response times for heart attack victims to get six times worse in the West Midlands, and the worst delays are in Shropshire.

“Action is long overdue."

NHS England's national medical director, Professor Sir Stephen Powis, said the figures showed how hard staff were working in the face of "extreme pressure".

He added: "As staff responded to record A&E attendances, 999 calls and emergency ambulance callouts as the 'twindemic' led to unprecedented levels of respiratory illness in hospital, they also continued to deliver for patients, with more people than ever before receiving diagnostic tests and cancer treatment.

"These figures show just how hard our staff are working, not only in the face of extreme pressure but also in bringing down the Covid backlogs and checking more people for cancer than ever before in one month.

"The NHS will keep its foot on the accelerator to continue to make progress on the Covid backlog, and hospitals have today been asked to ensure anyone waiting longer than 18 months has their treatment booked in before March.

"While services continue to be pressured, it's important the public continue to play their part by using the best services for their care – using 999 in an emergency and otherwise using 111 online and by getting their vaccinations if eligible."