Seven-hour hospital ambulance waits in Shropshire 'unacceptable'

The ambulance service said delays handing over patients at hospitals in Shropshire meant paramedics were seeing fewer cases in their shifts

Ambulance crews waiting seven hours to hand over patients at hospitals in Shropshire is unacceptable, one of their bosses has said.

Mark Docherty, from West Midlands Ambulance Service, said it was not unusual for delays to take so long.

He told a scrutiny meeting one patient was just over a mile from hospital but died waiting for an ambulance.

Hospital bosses admitted they were under extreme pressure and were seeing unprecedented demand.

Councillors at the meeting were told average waits in September at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (RSH) were more than two hours and, at the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford, one hour and six minutes.

Mr Docherty admitted ambulances queuing outside the hospitals were often stuck and could not leave until their patients were handed over.

The Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust has previously admitted demand for services at its A&E exceeds capacity.

Statistics from the NHS for September reveal nearly 48% of people attending the trust's A&E departments were not admitted, discharged or transferred four hours after arriving.

The figure has been rising since April, when it was 28%.

The department has begun a £9.3m expansion of the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital department which includes increasing clinical space.

Hospital bosses in Shropshire said they were under extreme pressure and spending more to increase capacity at A&E

About eight years ago, Mr Docherty said each ambulance crew would see an average of eight patients in a 12-hour shift but the number was currently below three.

The ambulance service's average response time has also increased this year, according to the latest NHS England figures.

From just under seven minutes in January for the more urgent calls, it has risen to seven minutes and 43 seconds in September - the target is seven minutes.

In a bid to reduce the delays, he said he had started chairing fortnightly meetings with the Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust but only one representative turned up to their latest one.

He added: "We are doing our best to get things right and we are getting frustrated with the system."

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The meeting also heard planned closures of four county ambulance stations were brought forward to 4 October in an attempt to improve response times.

With the delays outside hospitals, the ambulance service's communications manager, Murray MacGregor, said their current service to local residents was "simply not good enough".

He added: "There is a direct correlation between our poor performance and the issues we have had at hospitals."