Shropshire-only ambulance service 'won't solve problems'

Dedicated ambulances for Shropshire will not solve the county's NHS difficulties, a council leader says.

Members of Shropshire Council have backed calls for ambulances that serve solely the county.

They claim the system currently offered by West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) does not serve locals well enough.

But Shaun Davies says what they propose will not resolve local "urgent needs".

The leader of the Telford and Wrekin authority calls instead for investment across the NHS.

"There is an urgent need for improvement for our ambulance services, A&E, hospital performance generally and GP access right now," said Mr Davies, Labour.

"This would not be delivered by a new ambulance trust which would take years to set up, although we are not ruling anything out."

Ambulance wait times are among the concerns of WMAS's critics, who complain Shropshire is in part compromised, as a rural county, by provision sometimes being sent to local patients from beyond county borders, with paramedics also leaving Shropshire to cover emergencies elsewhere.

The removal of community ambulance hubs has also angered local residents.

Dean Carroll, a councillor on Shropshire Council, had claimed people in the county were not being given the same priority as other parts of the region.

Mr Davies said his authority had made an urgent appeal to the health secretary, urging the need to "act now" to address issues, adding the government must provide investment in all parts of the NHS.

Their opinions followed a day where nearly all county-based ambulances were left stuck outside Shropshire's two A&E departments, due to delays in handing over patients.

Latest figures show WMAS took more than eight minutes on average to reach patients in the most life-threatening of cases in December.

WMAS 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".

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