A POWYS health campaigner is concerned about ambulance waiting times at hospitals in Shropshire.-

At a meeting of Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) on Wednesday, November 13 , a report discussing performance outlined that in September, 65.9 per cent of A&E patients were seen within the four-hour Westminster government waiting target.

This has dropped from 73.4 per cent in August.

The data means that waiting times at the Royal  Shrewsbury Hospital and Princess Royal Hospital in Telford was the second worst performance in England during September. Both hospitals treat many patients from Powys.

Health campaigner, Powys County Councillor, Joy Jones (Non-aligned – Newtown East) said: “This is dreadful news as it has a major impact on the

for us in Mid Wales.

“This can lead to patients having to wait increased times to get help in an emergency which is detrimental to a patients overall recovery.”

Cllr Jones believes these issues are linked to the delays in the Future Fit project.

In January, it was announced that NHS clinical commissioners had approved the Future Fit ‘preferred option’ for the £312 million hospital revamp.

This would see have emergency care based at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital while Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital will become a ‘planned care’ site.

This was supposed to bring an end to nearly six years of consultations on the proposals.

The latest episode sees the project further delayed by legal action on behalf of Telford residents who question the decision.

Cllr Jones said: “It is time that the hospital future fit programme is started so that things could run more smoothly than they do now.

“With the new model there will be a whole new approach to A&E.

“Once this is done hopefully it will bring stability and new staff.

Cllr Jones believed that the uncertainty has led to staff leaving the hospital and those left have worked under increased pressure.

“The delay returning to the next person in need in our area is a concern for us in Mid Wales.

“We don’t have spare ambulances so when they are out on a job others have to be brought in from the other areas which sometimes leaves patients having a long wait.

“We are very fortunate in Mid Wales to have fantastic staff who are very hard working and do their best to get to patients as quickly as possible.

“But it must be very frustrating for them when they know they are needed back here but are stuck at Shrewsbury or Telford.”

A meeting of ambulance service chiefs is set to take place on November 18 to discuss how to reduce waiting times.