How is the NHS in Shropshire performing ahead of winter? New data reveals the truth
New NHS figures show that as hospitals in Shropshire head towards winter and the busiest period of the year, patients are already being left out in the cold.
As winter pressures loom, the county's A&E departments have the second longest waits in the country, half of all new cancer patients are having to wait more than two months to be seen, and thousands are on waiting lists for treatment.
The NHS England figures show there were 16,336 visits to A&E departments across Shropshire in September, and just 61 per cent (9,997) of those were seen within four hours.
The NHS standard is for 95 per cent of patients to be seen in four hours, although the Government has lowered it to 76 per cent until March 2024.
The figures place the NHS Shropshire Telford and Wrekin ICB (Integrated Care Board), which is in charge of the county's A&E departments, as the second worst performer in England as it fell significantly short of the new target and the NHS standard.
Only Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board (59.4 per cent) has poorer figures.
The figures also show that 1,088 patients were left waiting more than 12 hours in A&Es in Shropshire in September.
Cancer patients in the county are also waiting too long for treatment, according to the data.
Across Shropshire, cancer referral rates are in the bottom ten per cent in England with just 46.5 per cent of all patients being seen within the two-month target - way short of the Government's 85 per cent target.
More than 60,000 patients in Shropshire were also on waiting lists for non-urgent elective operations or treatment at the end of September.
There were 34,751 patients on waiting lists for non-urgent elective operations or treatment at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH), down slightly from 34,977 in August but significantly lower than the 38,406 waiting in September 2022.
Almost 15,000 people at Shropshire Community Health Trust, and another 15,000 at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital, are also on waiting lists for elective procedures.
Dr Nick White, chief medical officer at NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin said: “Reducing waiting times across the system remains a key priority for us.
“Local health and care partners, within our Integrated Care System, continue to work hard in collaboration to increase capacity and improve our waiting times across the different specialities and services.”
Nationally, 7.7 million people were waiting to start treatment at the end of September.
Professor Vivien Lees, from the Royal College of Surgeons of England, said: “Winter pressures have already started to affect the system.
“We are concerned that with increased demand, record staff vacancies and industrial action, this will all continue to hold back recovery efforts.”
