Military staff brought in to help at Shrewsbury and Telford hospitals
Members of the armed forces have signed on to help ease the pressure at Shropshire's emergency hospitals.
Ten members of the RAF have been brought in to help Shrewsbury & Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) as it continues to deal with a combination of pressure from the pandemic, and winter.
The team is expected to be in place at the trust's Princess Royal Hospital and Royal Shrewsbury Hospital for the next month.
The military staff arrived on Tuesday and will be providing support in non-clinical roles at the trust, working to help porters, the rapid response team, wards, the incident command centre, and stores.
The help comes amid continuing staffing issues caused by the pandemic, particularly the most recent Covid variant Omicron, which has led to increasing absences.
Mr Nigel Lee, chief operating officer at SaTH, offered the trust's thanks for the RAF support.
He said: “I am delighted to welcome the RAF personnel to our trust who will be supporting our teams for the next four weeks. We are incredibly grateful for their support as we continue to see staffing pressures due to Covid-19.”
Master Aircrew Stuart Wright, team leader for the RAF team, said: “We are proud to be working alongside our NHS colleagues and assisting where necessary in the response to the Covid-19 pandemic. We have been welcomed universally by staff at all levels of the SaTH Trust and will do our best to offer any help wherever we can.”
Earlier this month 200 army personnel were sent in to help London's hospitals – 40 Defence medics and 160 general duty personnel.
The government also confirmed that 32 military co-responders had been drafted in to help South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS), and were expected to stay in the posts until March.
