Army needed for 999 crisis says daughter of 92-year-old who waited nine hours for help
It is time for the Army to be brought in to help the ambulance service in Shropshire, the daughter of a 92-year-old who waited nine hours for help when she broke her hip has said.
West Midlands Ambulance Service has said that patients are being put at “catastrophic risk” of harm as a result of ambulance handover delays.
Sian Tasker, who works in administration at a Covid vaccine centre, wants to see an Army field hospital set up at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital to act as a triage centre and receive patients brought into A&E by ambulances.
Her mother, Glenys Coombs, broke her shoulder and hip when she fell at Sian's home in Oswestry in June.
Unable to get up she spent nine hours on the floor before paramedics arrived.
After surgery Mrs Coombs was eventually allowed home while she is recovering, although is still frail.
Mrs Tasker said her family's experience was not a one-off.
"I understand one patient recently had to spend nine hours on a pavement waiting for an ambulance," she said.
"I work at the Orthopaedic Hospital which has links with the Army and its plan for a veterans' centre. I recently watched while the Army demonstrated putting up one of its field hospitals to demonstrate how they work.
"It was incredible and I feel it is just what is needed at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital at the moment.
"The patients could be taken to the triage centre at the hospital where army medics would take over and allow the ambulances to go back out to help more people.
"The time has come to call in the Army. Field hospitals as used in wartime – I feel this is a war situation."
In Wales the ambulance service has been given help in the form of more than 100 Army drivers who will deal with non-emergency trips.
South Shropshire MP, Philip Dunne, said that, before looking at help from the Army, the cause of the enormous pressure the ambulance service was under must be investigated.
"We have to take look at why this is happening and understand what is causing the increased demand," he said.
"I would like to see whether the change from the Shropdoc service to NHS 111 is contributing or whether it is connected to the increased demand for access to GPs.
"The introduction of the NHS Integrated Care Service in Shropshire should put us in a better place."
