First phase of new A&E to take patients in weeks

Ed Rysdale, clinical lead for A&E programme, said the reorganisation should be completed in 2028

The first phase of a new hospital emergency department is set to welcome patients by the end of March.

Eight new resuscitation bays will be used for the first time at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (RSH), once workers complete their final touches in the next two weeks.

The ward is the first phase of a multi-million pound hospital transformation programme, which is reorganising care at hospitals in Shropshire.

Under the plans, Telford's Princess Royal Hospital will specialise in planned care and the RSH in emergency care.

The new emergency department at the RSH will include a new major injury unit and paediatric area as well as new ambulance bays and an improved urgent treatment centre.

Ed Rysdale, clinical lead for the programme, said the project would see doctors give the "best care for our sickest patients" and reduce waiting times.

"Waiting times all come down to flow through the system," he said.

"By improving flows through the acute floor and onto the ward and getting patients home faster, hopefully we will have fewer ambulances or no ambulances waiting more than 15 minutes."

The first patients in the new resuscitation unit are expected to be treated by the end of March.

The next phase of work will see part of the new major injury ward opened, before the rest of the project is finished.

It is hoped that the new emergency department will be completed by 2027 to allow for the new way of working between the two sites to be launched in 2028.