A dementia-sufferer taken by ambulance to A&E at an over-stretched hospital endured six hours on a trolley as Tory austerity continues to wreck the NHS.
Photos show 88-year-old Jill Woolley – who worked for the health service as a doctor’s secretary – with other frail and elderly patients waiting side-by-side on trolleys crammed into the department.
Medics battled heroically to try to cope with the backlog.
Some patients were inches away from staff working at computers.
Relatives had to stand for hours because of a lack of chairs.
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Jill’s daughter Samantha Tuck, 54, said it was unfair her mum “had to go through the trauma” of waiting on a trolley at the hospital for so long.
She added: “I feel hurt and upset and like she has been neglected... The elderly are treated so poorly.”
Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth described Jill’s visit to A&E as “heartbreaking”. He added: “She should never have been treated like this. Boris Johnson should be utterly ashamed.
“Sadly, this is not a one-off case. This is happening to thousands of patients all the time. This is what happens from cutting 15,000 hospital beds, starving the NHS of cash and failing to recruit doctors, nurses and staff.
“This is not a winter crisis, it is a Tory-made crisis.” Jill, of Nuthall, Notts, needed treatment due to a bad reaction to anti-anxiety tablets. Her family were told GPs were too busy to see her.
Paramedics were called to her home and, after checking her, said she needed to see a doctor immediately.
Jill was taken to the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham and waited 90 minutes just to be transferred into the hospital’s care.
She was in A&E for five more hours. Her son-in-law Peter Tuck, 62, who took the photos, described what he saw as “bedlam”. The surveyor added: “It was never-ending, there were more and more patients being wheeled in.”
He said nurses had been drafted in from other hospitals, adding: “There must have been 20 or 30 nurses working flat out... They were fantastic.”
Jill was finally discharged after being diagnosed with a urinary infection. She is now recovering at home.
Nottingham University Hospitals Trust has apologised. Chief operating officer Lisa Kelly said a “significant increase in... very poorly patients” has created “considerable pressure”.
She added: “Staff are working really hard to manage the pressures and ensure patients are cared for safely.”
The photos were taken on Monday, days before the trust declared a “critical incident” due to pressure on A&E.
NHS waiting times are at their worst ever level after a decade of record low funding increases. There are over 100,000 NHS vacancies due to cuts to training budgets, axing the nursing bursary and below-inflation wage rises sparking an exodus of staff.
Mr Johnson and Health Secretary Matt Hancock are trying to hoodwink voters by pledging 40 “new” hospitals.
In fact it would only be six new buildings or refurbs in the next five years. The Tories would only provide 40 if they win the next two elections.
