Handover delays at hospitals blamed for ambulance backlog in North Shropshire

The issue of healthcare in the North Shropshire constituency was brought up in the House of Commons by Lib Dem MP Helen Morgan, who this week told members of Oswestry Town Council she was calling for a meeting in the area with Health Secretary Sajid Javid.

Amongst the problems she cited was the loss of Oswestry's ambulance station, resulting in long waiting times for patients in the town due to crews having to come from Shrewsbury and being delayed by waiting times at hospitals there and in Telford.

A spokeswoman for the ambulance service said in February this year the trust lost around 4,362 hours due to handover delays at Telford's Princess Royal and Royal Shrewsbury hospitals, an increase of 385 per cent on pre-Covid levels.

She said: “Our staff are working tirelessly to respond to patients as soon as we can. Unfortunately, the level of delays the trust faces waiting to hand over patients at Shropshire’s hospitals has a huge impact on our ability to get to patients quickly.

“We are working with all local partners across the health and care system to improve the situation. The whole of the NHS remains under severe pressure, but our staff and volunteers continue to work tirelessly to respond as soon as we can, though we absolutely accept that some patients are waiting far longer than we would want.

“Shutting the community ambulance station, such as Oswestry, meant more ambulance staff on the road answering calls to patients, than would have been the case had the seldom-used buildings still been open.

"We continue to take further steps to improve the situation such as increasing the number of frontline and control room staff.”