Fears over time ambulances are spending out of Shropshire

Members of a health watchdog claim ambulances that should be serving people in north Shropshire are actually spending time on patient transfers in Chester and Wrexham.

The concerns have been raised by members of Oswestry Health Group, who claim the town's two ambulances are frequently sent on jobs across the border.

One of the members, Councillor David Lloyd, Shropshire councillor for Gobowen, said concerns have been officially raised with West Midlands Ambulance Service, which has confirmed that it is aware of the issue.

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Councillor Lloyd said: "There has always been cross-boundary responses by the emergency services in the event of major incidents.

"But members of the Oswestry Health Group were also concerned to learn that an ambulance based in Oswestry is being summoned to assist with fairly routine patient transfers to the Countess of Chester Hospital and the Maelor Hospital in Wrexham."

The group, which is chaired by North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson, is made up of health and local authority representatives.

Councillor Lloyd said: "The group discussed Shropshire-based ambulances being delayed by having to queue to offload patients at the Wrexham hospital. When ambulance crews taking Shropshire patients to Wrexham receive advance advice of queues at the Maelor Hospital, they now divert to the next appropriate unit, but this also takes time."

Councillor Lloyd said the group, which met earlier this week, was told by West Midlands Ambulance Service that response times have improved since an ambulance was based at the Oswestry Health Centre.

He added: "But the group learned that the vehicle was at times bring expected to operate within the Borough of Wrexham, while it should be available to transfer Oswestry area patients to the Royal Shrewsbury, Princess Royal in Telford, or further afield."

John Hawker, spokesman for the West Midlands Ambulance Service, said: "

On occasions we are asked by the Welsh Ambulance Service to assist them by attending an emergency in Wales when they do not have an ambulance of their own available. We will help them only if a Shropshire-based ambulance is available and there are no calls outstanding in the county.

"However, this situation is becoming more common and ambulances have been experiencing delays when handing over patients to hospital over the border. We have raised this as a concern with senior figures in the local health economy."