Hospitals expected to miss A&E waiting targets

Hospitals in Shropshire are not expected to meet government targets for waits in accident and emergency departments.

The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust said it was aiming to have 65% of admissions to emergency departments being admitted, transferred, or discharged within four hours by next April.

The government target is 82% by April and group chief operating officer and deputy chief executive, Neil Hobbs, said the trust was also "absolutely committed to improvement".

The trust saw an all-time record number of A&E attendances in the summer, including a surge in August, but said it had seen some progress since then.

Hobbs told members of Shropshire's joint health overview and scrutiny committee the trust "was amongst the most challenged in the country".

A report presented to Monday's meeting said that during a surge in attendances in the summer, just 52% of patients were dealt with in four hours, missing a locally set trust target of 60.1%.

The trust also failed to meet its aim of seeing, discharging or transferring 85% of patients within 12 hours and in August it dropped to 78%.

But the report noted that since actions were taken it "resulted in the strongest three consecutive weeks of simple discharges for three months".

Among the measures taken were moves to speed up blood tests and scan results to allow medics to make speedier decisions.

Jo Williams, group chief executive, said members of the trust's management discuss long wait patients in regular hospital "huddles" and the trust's board is "concerned about the numbers".

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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