'Hospitals are full', warns chief

Elderly admissions shoot up

Some operations have been cancelled at Shropshire's two main hospitals because of a surge in admissions of elderly patients, a health boss has said.

Tom Taylor, the chief executive of the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust, said both sites were "very full".

He said it was because of a rise in emergency admissions of people with respiratory and cardiac problems.

Some routine operations have had to be been cancelled but no patients have been turned away, he added.

Be patient

Mr Taylor has blamed the mild, damp weather and said hospitals were busy across the whole of the West Midlands.

The influx of patients at the Royal Shrewsbury and Princess Royal Hospitals began last week and is still continuing.

He has apologised to patients who have had their operations cancelled or had to wait longer than normal in A&E.

He said:" Staff are working their socks off to get everybody through."

Mr Taylor said the Shrewsbury and Telford hospitals have been unable to accept patients from other hospitals because of the bed shortage.