Call for Shropshire-only ambulance service

Ambulance response times in the West Midlands have risen across 2021, according to NHS figures

The government is being urged to give Shropshire an ambulance service dedicated solely to the county.

Councillors backed the move as they claimed the current service from West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) was not good enough.

"Shropshire has an incredibly poor service from [WMAS]," councillor Dean Carroll said.

WMAS said the county benefitted "hugely from being part of a bigger organisation".

It added ambulances were sent to the county from other parts of the region when demand was high.

Shropshire, like many places, has had months of rising ambulance response times and delays.

On one day in December, nearly all county-based ambulances were left stuck outside the county's two A&E departments, due to delays in handing over patients.

WMAS said in October ambulance crews had waited seven hours to hand over patients at Shropshire hospitals, adding such delays were not unusual.

Shropshire Council plans to ask the Department of Health to consider a county-only ambulance service for Shropshire

The government has said extra funding is being provided to boost staff numbers in key areas to cut handover delays but response times for ambulances in the West Midlands have steadily risen across 2021, like many other regions.

For the most life-threatening cases, such as cardiac arrests, the latest data for December shows it took WMAS more than eight minutes on average to reach patients, compared to just under seven minutes in December 2020.

While for category two cases, which include heart attacks, patients are meant to be reached in 18 minutes on average, but it took more than 48 minutes in the West Midlands in December, in contrast to nearly 15 minutes the previous December.

The removal of community ambulance hubs have also angered many local residents, with the topic identified by many voters in the North Shropshire by-election as among the key issues for the constituency.

Earlier this month, new Lib Dem MP Helen Morgan called for talks with the health secretary over the "ambulance crisis".

Mr Carroll said Shropshire Council believed people in the county were not being given the same priority as other parts of the region.

"Shropshire has an incredibly poor service from them and Shropshire residents are every bit as important as a resident in Birmingham or Wolverhampton or West Bromwich," he added.

Mr MacGregor said rural areas across the UK "always have less good performance" due to their location, but Shropshire "benefits hugely from being part of a bigger organisation".

"If you were to set up Shropshire Ambulance Service and you wanted to hit the performance standards for Shropshire, it would probably cost twice what it does now to run the ambulance service in Shropshire," he added.

The council plans to contact the Department of Health immediately and ask Shropshire's MPs to raise the issue with the Health Secretary Sajid Javid.

"I genuinely think it could happen," Mr Carroll said. "Serious needs in Shropshire are not being met so I believe NHS England have to take this absolutely seriously."