Urgent care and treatment

At both our hospitals there will be Urgent Treatment Centres (UTCs) and about two thirds of patients who currently use our Accident and Emergency Departments, will be able to receive care at the Urgent Treatment Centre at their local hospital.

In 2028, the UTC at Princess Royal Hospital (PRH) will have a larger footprint and offer more services. It will provide timely access to patients with urgent but not life or limb threatening illness or injury that requires same day treatment.

Patients attending the UTC at PRH will receive faster access to the right clinicians and patients with life or limb threatening illness or injury will be managed through the Emergency Department at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.

What you can expect

  • Both UTCs will see both booked and walk-in patients
  • Both UTCs will see patients who need urgent medical help that is not life threatening
  • See patients of all ages, including children under 2
  • Provide consistent investigative and diagnostic offering on site including imaging services
  • The UTC at PRH will be open 7 days a week, 24 hours a day
  • The UTC at PRH will accept appropriate ambulance arrivals
  • Both UTCs will have access to patient records
  • The UTC at PRH will have in-reach support from the frailty support teams and will be supported by Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) services and will provide emergency care to patients who do not require an overnight hospital stay

Trained healthcare professions at the UTC in PRH will have the ability to stabilise patients who walk-in with a life-threatening illness or injury. Patients will then be transferred to the most appropriate hospital to continue their care – this is in line with current practice.

Emergency Care

Royal Shrewsbury Hospital will specialise in emergency care. This means that in 2028 if you need emergency care for life and limb threatening injury or illness you will be treated at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital in a purpose-built, remodelled Emergency Department.

All the different specialist clinical teams you might need in an emergency will all be based at one hospital with the Emergency Department. This means you have direct access to the right team who will make immediate decisions about your care and provide faster treatment to you.

At the moment, our specialist clinical teams who may be based at one hospital are trying to support two Emergency Departments and this builds in delay in care.

By having our emergency care services in one hospital we can:

  • Have a bigger and improved Emergency Department designed to meet the needs of our communities now and in the future

  • Provide faster access to the right care from the right teams that support emergency care

  • Make quicker decisions about patient care, with all the specialist teams on one site with the Emergency Department

  • Improve the working environment for our staff with modern facilities


Until we make this change, the Emergency Departments (A&E) at Princess Royal Hospital and Royal Shrewsbury Hospital are open. Please continue to access services as you currently do.

For further information about Think Which Service, which aims to help you to know where to go to get the right advice, support and treatment for your health needs as quickly as possible, visit: http://thinkwhichservice.co.uk/

FAQs

We expect our remodelled Emergency Department and new healthcare facilities at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital to be ready in 2028. We will then have the clinical space to make these changes and improve care for everyone.

We will keep our communities informed as we get closer to this date and ensure our patients know how to access care.

In a serious, life-or-limb threatening emergency please ring 999. On the arrival of the   ambulance, the paramedics will start the diagnostic and treatment pathway and can stabilise patients whilst the emergency transfer to the Emergency Department takes place. Currently for specific illnesses and injury some transfers will be to major centres outside Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin.

If you need urgent medical help but it’s not a life or limb threatening emergency, contact NHS 111 online at 111.nhs.uk or call 111 for clinical advice, assessment and signposting to the right service.

The UTC will be located in the current Emergency Department (A&E). It will be bigger in size and patients who need urgent care will receive faster access to the right clinicians as they will be separate to emergency patients.

We currently have two hospitals admitting patients for emergency care but without all the specialist emergency teams resident in both hospitals, this can lead to delays in patients getting the right care they need. It also means that during busy periods for both hospitals looking after patients with emergency needs, planned care patients may be impacted and have their planned procedures delayed to create additional capacity for emergency patients.

By having one Emergency Department our patients will have the support from all the clinical teams they might need in a serious life or limb threatening injury or illness at the same hospital.

By having all the admitting emergency specialists in one place, it means we can make earlier decisions about your care and start you on the right pathway and reduce the amount of time patients stay in hospital. Now, these teams are split or only based at one hospital which can cause delays in making important decisions about patient care.

We are constructing a new modern building where those very important clinical teams that need to be close to ED will be based. This will also be supported by a bigger, purpose built-build Emergency Department at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.

By having Princess Royal Hospital in Telford specialising in planned care, we can protect our planned care beds so that we have fewer cancellations which means our waiting times for operations will be shorter. This also will improve and help emergency care as there will be fewer patients experiencing complications whilst waiting for operations.

Patients who have undergone emergency treatment may be transferred to Princess Royal Hospital, if appropriate, as part of their planned pathway of care.

Two thirds of patients that currently use our Accident and Emergency Departments, can continue to do so in the Urgent Treatment Centres at their local hospital.

Urgent treatment centres treat many common injuries and illnesses. They can help with things like:

  • sprains and strains
  • suspected broken bones
  • injuries, cuts and bruises
  • stomach pain, vomiting and diarrhoea
  • skin infections and rashes
  • high temperature in children and adults

The UTC at PRH will have support from medical Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC), frailty assessment services, and rehabilitation services.