999 for Emergency Services

Shropshire's emergency services are amongst the worst in the country, with far too many people facing long waits for an ambulance.

Liberal Democrat councillors in Shrewsbury are campaigning for emergency care to be prioritised, with changes needed to save lives and protect our NHS.

In July 2023, the president of the Royal Collage of Emergency Medicine estimated that there were 500 unnecessary deaths per week in England’s emergency patients, equivalent to over 200 per year in Shropshire, if emergency mortality statistics were average in our area.

But a report to the Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust Board in December 2023 showed deaths in the A&E Departments at the end of 2022 were three times the national average.

Meole division councillor Bernie Bentick, a former NHS consultant, has set out five points that he feels would improve the situation.

1. Significantly increase the number of qualified and experienced clinical staff responding to 111 calls, who can then give sufficient clinical advice to reassure callers and so reduce the number presenting to the Emergency Departments.

2. Reduce non-urgent elective in-patient surgical activity, until hospital waiting times for emergency admissions reduce to under 5 hours to under 5 hours and until delays for emergency operations reduce to less than 12 hours.

3. Ensure that the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals (SaTH) Urgent Care System deploys sufficient staff of all relevant disciplines to be immediately available to discharge-ready patients to without delay. ensure an efficient and rapid patient discharge process.

4. ⁠Improve the payments to the Adult Social Care System to permit timely discharge of patients needing a Community/Social Care Package.

5. Ensure that all of Shropshire's Community Hospitals are fully funded and staffed to permit them to function at full capacity.

Councillor Bentick is also encouraging residents to contact him on bernie4meole@gmail.com to share any experiences they may have had with the Emergency Services. 

Where requested, Councillor Bentick will raise concerning experiences anonymously with the relevant body.