Shropshire MP issues 'come and see for yourself' invite to minister
North Shropshire MP Helen Morgan has urged a government minister to visit the county and witness the area’s 'calamitous' health crisis for himself. She has written to Health Secretary Steve Barclay inviting him to the county to meet paramedics, doctors, nurses and carers in the hope seeing problems for himself will force the minister into what she says is long-overdue action.
The letter read: "People are dying waiting for ambulances on a regular basis. Here in Shropshire it has become the norm for suspected heart attack patients to have to wait more than 60 minutes for an ambulance. It often takes hours. This is not the fault of the ambulance service – it is the fault of your government and its consistent failure to act.
“Paramedics are being forced to spend entire shifts stuck at hospitals waiting to handover patients instead of responding to emergencies. People cannot get a GP appointment so they turn up to A and E departments which are already full. There are not enough hospital beds because care homes have no room to take medically-fit patients. Staff across the system are overworked, exhausted and increasingly deciding to change their careers. And so the pressure gets worse and the cycle continues.”
Ms Morgan has repeatedly called on the Government to take action and form a national strategy to reduce ambulance delays, free up hospital beds and increase the number of available appointments.
The letter comes as suspected stroke and heart attack patients in Shropshire are now being warned that it may take several hours for ambulances to reach them.
West Midlands Ambulance Service expected around 48,000 of ambulance hours to be lost due to handover delays at hospitals in July – the highest-ever monthly level despite July normally being one of the quietest months.
Ms Morgan added: “The absence of action is particularly worrying given demand for ambulances is no higher than normal; we are in the summer and therefore in a time of comparatively low pressure and still the system is on the verge of collapse. If the current trend of increasing emergency waiting times continues then the winter will be a terrifying time to fall ill.”
