Telford A&E to close overnight for minimum of six months
The suspension of overnight Accident and Emergency services at the Princess Royal Hospital was today approved.
The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) Board made the decision to temporarily suspend services between 8pm and 8am at a meeting in Shrewsbury this afternoon.
It follows shortages in specialist A&E staff stretching back to 2015, which has affected SaTH’s two Emergency Department sites in Telford and Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.
The Trust says that despite some recent success in recruiting consultants the position remains fragile.
The temporary overnight suspension is expected to happen in November and last for a minimum of six months. Until then the services will continue 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week.
Any re-opening following the expected overnight closure in November would be dependent on the ability to provide safe services and the Board of SaTH says it will be keeping this under review.
The Princess Royal Hospital A&E department will be closed to ambulance admissions at 8pm with ambulances diverted to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and neighbouring Trusts.
The Urgent Care Centre will accept patients until 8pm and the PRH would continue to accept GP referred admissions in those specialities managed at PRH between 8am and 8pm, seven-days-a-week.
Stroke patients arriving by ambulance will be admitted via a direct pathway to the appropriate clinical ward.
Simon Wright, Chief Executive, said: “This is the hardest decision that we have ever had to make, but it is the right one to safeguard our patients in the current circumstances.
“I want to reassure everyone that we remain committed to providing the safest, kindest quality of care. We also remain committed in our efforts to recruit to our emergency departments, regardless of today’s decision.”
The Royal College of Medicine recommends that SaTH’s two A&E Departments should have between them 20 Emergency Medicine Consultants – when they have just 10 (four permanent and six locums), 32 middle grade doctors – when they have just 11 and nurse staffing levels are a concern with the level of temporary and permanent vacancies meaning a heavy reliance on agency nurses or shifts left unfilled.
Dr Kevin Eardley, Care Group Medical Director for Unscheduled Care, said: “This is not where we want to be but we have been very clear for some time now about the fragility of the EDs at RSH and PRH, and that we cannot continue to operate both sites overnight in the long-term with staffing levels as they are.
“We don’t have enough doctors and nurses to safely staff both of our A&Es 24-hours-a day, seven-days-a-week and, as a result, we are relying on the goodwill of our medical and nursing staff to keep those services running. This has put them under enormous pressure, and is no longer sustainable.
“I want to reassure everyone that our business continuity plans have been under constant review, and robustly tested, to ensure that there will be as little impact on patients as possible.
“We have, and continue to, work closely with our health partners including our commissioners, ambulance services and neighbouring Trusts, on this.”
