Life-saving equipment stolen from ambulance in Shrewsbury

Vital life-saving equipment was stolen from an ambulance as the crew were treating a man inside a property in Shrewsbury last week.

The crew became aware of the break in at just before 3am while they were treating a patient in Dogpole.

Due to the serious nature of the patient’s condition, the crew had to leave the scene and take the patient on blue lights to Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.  It was only once they had handed the patient over to staff in A&E that they were able to assess what had been taken.

Shrewsbury Operations Manager, Jon Ostrowski, said: “They discovered that a number of items of equipment that we use to manage a patient’s airway - mainly endo-tracheal blades and laryngoscope handles - had been taken.  They are utterly useless to anyone but us as they are only used in lifesaving interventions. 

“While the crew carry this equipment in their pack that they take to a patient, had they used that one and then needed another, it could have caused a significant delay and that could have had deadly consequences. 

“Add to that, the crew then had to take their vehicle off the road so that a full audit of equipment could be carried out.  They had to return to Shrewsbury Hub to pick up a second vehicle and so were not available to respond to 999 calls.”

Ambulance CCTV

The CCTV on the vehicle has been checked and an image of a man police would like to speak to in connection with their enquiries has been released.

If you recognise him or have any information about the incident, please contact West Mercia Police on 101 quoting incident 42S of 15th July 2019 or call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.