SY8 Studios has been created in the former workhouse, latterly a maternity unit, in the grounds of the community hospital. Gather is a coworking, creative and multi-use space in SY8 Studios. It intends to offer “workshops, events, collaborations, contemporary culture” as part of a scheme to bring space for artists and small entrepreneurs to East Hamlet. This is welcome but its application for an alcohol and events licence has already created widespread concern, including from the Ludlow Hospital League of Friends who have said they will object to the application. The proposed licencing hours are until 11pm, far too late in the evening. There is nothing wrong with a drink while socialising but in a hospital setting there needs to be strict curfew on sales and events.
Category: Health
Local health needs and life survey – please take part
Shropshire Council’s health team is undertaking a survey of local needs across the county. The survey asks about what people value most in their local areas, health services, youth provision, volunteering, road repairs, education, public transport and much more. It also seeks to assess how satisfied people are life and whether they would like to be involved in decisions about their area. I hope people will spend around 10 minutes completing the questionnaire. If we don’t tell people what our needs and views are, we get and keep the services we need. This is survey for all adults not just those with long term health conditions. Take part in the survey…
How long must you wait for an ambulance in Ludlow? The answer is shocking and people are dying
We have been concerned about the time people in Ludlow have to wait for an ambulance for a long while. Data from the winter just ended show that the wait for an emergency ambulance here is still lengthy and target response times are far from being met. If someone has a life threatening condition such as heart attack or respiratory failure, nine of ten can expect to wait up to 39 minutes for an ambulance. The national response target is 15 minutes. For a stroke or chest pains, the wait is up to two and a half hours against a target of 40 minutes. For an urgent problem, such as a fall, fracture or dislocation that requires transport to hospital, the wait time can be up to 11 hours for nine in ten patients. The target is two hours. These figures are shocking but unsurprising. There have been a number […]
The NHS crisis escalates across the country, including in Shropshire
The news in this week’s media on health is bleak. Yesterday, the president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine said that a bad flu season was piling pressure on to services that were already critically overstretched. He claimed that somewhere between 300 and 500 people are dying as a consequence of delays and problems with urgent and emergency care each week. The British Medical Association said pressure on the NHS is “intolerable and unsustainable”. The Society for Acute Medicine said “urgent action” is needed to bring the health service back from the brink. The head of the NHS Confederation warned senior medics are reporting the “toughest winter they’ve ever dealt with”. The Liberal Democrats have called for the NHS to declare a national “major incident”, as has the Society for Acute Medicine. The Lib Dems have also called for parliament to be recalled to discuss the crisis this week […]
Ambulance waiting falls slightly locally as deaths increase and the NHS strains
Ambulance performance in Shropshire, and in many areas of the country, has been unacceptable for too long. Ludlow health campaigner and town councillor Darren Childs has recently detailed his second experience of not being able to get a 999 ambulance promptly when needed. Susan told her story to me after being classified as a Category 1 emergency in South Shropshire a few days ago. BBC Shropshire reported earlier this week that in 2020 one person died because of ambulance delays in the county. This does not include deaths before the ambulance arrived. In 2021, the number of deaths rose to 22. In first nine months this year, there have been 37 deaths. A new system was introduced at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (RSH) two weeks ago. Patients arriving by ambulance are transferred to Ambulance Decision Area for continued assessment and treatment before being admitted to A&E and the hospital. If […]