Shropshire 'ran out' of ambulances due to hospital waits

Plans are being looked at for a regional service to relieve pressure on the ambulance service

A county "ran out" of ambulances because all vehicles were queueing outside hospitals, a service boss said.

Mark Docherty, West Midlands Ambulance Service's nursing and clinical commissioning director, said other areas had to provide cover for Shropshire during the shortage.

The issue led to a delay in response times, he said.

A start date is being set for a regional service to relieve pressure by taking some less critical cases.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said Mr Docherty told the county's Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee: "Two weeks ago today we ran out of ambulances in Shropshire and Telford.

"What I mean by that is every single ambulance we had was stuck outside a hospital with a patient on.

"This isn't about blame or pointing fingers. This is about us all acknowledging that we're in a very difficult position."

Mr Docherty said the ambulance service was "really struggling" to get to category three incidents, classified as urgent rather than life threatening.

In a report to the meeting, Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Clinical Commissioning group planning director Sam Tilley said the area was one of many "experiencing increasing delays" in ambulance handovers at hospitals but was "committed to doing all we can to improve this situation".

She told the meeting a discussion has taken place with NHS England for a Community Rapid Intervention Service, which would automatically refer local rapid-response teams to attend category three calls in a bid to offset the impact of handover delays.

A roll-out date is being agreed for the system across the West Midlands, she said.

Covid, she said, is creating "significant workforce challenges" but "without our workforce we cannot make the level of improvement we want to make".

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Following the meeting, a West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman, said: "It is wrong to say that the trust ran out of ambulances in Shropshire as our service continued to respond to patients with crews from other areas.

"Unfortunately, the whole of the NHS remains under severe pressure which means patients are sometimes waiting longer for an ambulance response."

They added they were working with all NHS partners to reduce delays.