Shropshire A&E crisis: Act now to tackle growing problem, says NHS boss

It comes as it was revealed 15 people had to wait more than 12 hours on trolleys at Telford's Princess Royal Hospital A&E on one day last month.

Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group is now investigating whether any patient was harmed as a result of the waits.

A CCG meeting was told PRH and Royal Shrewsbury Hospital needed to implement basic steps to deal with the influx of patients.

Wendy Saviour, NHS England director of commissioning operations for North Midlands, said: "Shropshire is not doing everything they can in regards to patient flow.

"There are spare beds in the community hospitals which should be being used.

"There are still other things that need to be done to improve the flow through the hospitals.

"There is a lot of evidence about what works in these situations and they do not seem to be pursued through the A&E board. It is particularly worrying to hear about 12-hour breaches. It is completely unacceptable and should be a complete no-no."

NHS England will now meet managers from the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust and Shropshire CCG. Figures discussed by Shropshire health commissioners show 15 patients had to wait more than 12 hours for treatment in A&E on January 27.

Dr Simon Freeman, interim accountable officer, said: "I am concerned about the A&E position and lack of ways to address the cause. The figures are very bad.

"People lying on a trolley for 12 hours is not acceptable."

Dr Julie Davies, director of strategy and service redesign, said: "The A&E performance is unacceptable.

"We have seen significant support from the local authority in a very difficult time.

"We do have beds available in the community hospitals and Robert Jones & Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital. There is potential for the fracture clinic to be relocated to Robert Jones and also to make better use of the beds on the rehabilitation ward."

Meanwhile hospital bosses were told an independent review, looking into the methodology and process of Future Fit, is set to be completed by the end of April.

Future Fit – which could see one A&E unit set up at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Telford's department downgraded – is currently on hold. It comes after members of Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin CCGs failed to reach a decision on whether to back a recommendation to base a single A&E at RSH and move women and children's services there from PRH.

Dr Freeman said the group is 'disinclined' to pay for the review as he said 'it is not needed'.