Extra 56 patients a day at Shropshire hospitals

Patient admissions at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Telford’s Princess Royal Hospitals have soared, with emergency admissions rising 20 per cent from 2014/15 to 2018/19.

NHS Digital data shows in total 136,655 patients were admitted to the hospitals in 2018/19, compared to 116,103 in 2014/15.

Health experts say there is an “urgent need” for more staff and beds throughout the NHS to address a surge in demand, driven in part by the increasing number of people living with complex long-term conditions.

Across England as a whole however hospitals had to deal with almost 24,000 additional admissions every week last year compared to 2014-15.

Over the course of the year, staff saw 17.1 million patients, an increase of eight per cent.

Richard Murray, chief executive of health think tank the King’s Fund, said the evidence suggested a decades-old policy of reducing the number of hospital beds had “gone too far”, with more beds and increased investment in the community now needed.

He said: “Critically, if the NHS is to open more hospital beds it will need more people to staff them, but the NHS is already in the grips of a major workforce crisis. A credible plan to increase staff numbers is urgently needed.

Underinvestment

“Even then, it will take time to stabilise services and in the meantime patients will unfortunately have to continue waiting longer to receive the care that they need.”

Dr Rob Harwood, consultants committee chair at the British Medical Association, said underfunding, a lack of beds and chronic staff shortages meant doctors and other NHS staff being placed under pressure.

He said: “All of this means more patients face lengthy waits for treatment with too many now forced to wait for hours in uncomfortable conditions in A&E wards or hospital corridors.

“The Government must get a grip of this crisis, and though MPs have promised more funding, the BMA has been clear that the money pledged will not be enough to make up for years of underinvestment.”

The organisation called for 10,000 more beds to ease pressure on frontline services, as well as a 4.1 per cent annual funding increase.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “We are providing the NHS with a record cash funding boost of £33.9 billion extra a year within the next five years, which we are enshrining in law.

“Our record funding will allow us to put 50,000 more nurses, 6,000 more GPs and 6,000 more primary care professionals onto the frontline to deliver a world-class NHS.”