Shropshire A&E performance among the worst in the country
The percentage of patients waiting more than four hours to be seen at Shropshire's A&E departments is one of the worst in the country.
Only four NHS Trusts recorded a worse performance than Shrewsbury & Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) against a benchmark for 95 per cent of A&E patients to be dealt with within four hours last month.
The figures show that during March the trust's hospitals – Royal Shrewsbury and Princess Royal in Telford – dealt with 54.3 per cent of those attending in four hours or less and compares to a national average of 71.6 per cent.
The number is worse than the February performance in Shropshire, where 55.8 per cent of A&E patients were dealt with within four hours.
It is a continuation of the pressure at the trust's hospitals, partly caused by Covid, but also a worsening of the issues faced at A&E over recent years.
The ambulance service has also faced major delays handing over patients at the hospitals, waiting as many as 1,800 hours in a month to transfer patients, with some waiting for more than nine hours in the back of an ambulance.
The trust has been in special measures since 2018 and has argued that without completing its 'Future Fit' reorganisation of the hospitals it will not be able to address the problems at its A&E departments.
The trust is also included in an ongoing 'system wide' critical incident in Shropshire, owing to pressures brought about on county health services by Covid.
A spokesman for The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, apologised over the current situation and pointed to the trust's efforts to increase capacity at its Shrewsbury A&E.
He said: “Our A&E departments continue to experience intense pressure due to the exceptionally high levels of demand for urgent care, as well as the ongoing impacts from Covid-19.
"Our health and social care system in the county remains in a ‘critical incident’ and patients may experience long waits for treatment in A&E as we prioritise those in most urgent need of treatment.
“We would like to apologise to those affected and we want to reassure you that we are continuing to do everything we can, alongside partners, to improve urgent and emergency care performance, including by increasing capacity at our A&E department at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.”
