An angry mum has slammed a four-hour "cold and filthy" A&E car park wait as pressure grows on overworked and "traumatised" hospital staff.
Sick people were vomiting outside Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, one woman claims.
Officials say the decision to not allow patients inside was put in place because of Covid safety regulations.
They said there had been an "extremely high demand" for A&E - but have been blasted for the long wait to get seen.
A parent whose daughter, 20, had a four-hour wait for an X-ray has described what the family went through.
Maria, who did not want to give her full name, detailed how six patients were sat outside with one being sick as they waited.
"It is absolutely shocking," she told the BBC. "You think you may have pneumonia, you're coughing horribly, and you're in the cold - it's not the best place to be.
"When we were sent round to the Covid A&E, the panorama was this horrible car park with ambulances and people, some sitting. I couldn't even see a chair for us. They said 'you have to wait outside, it could take lots of hours'.
"We were in disbelief, the people around us didn't look well at all, the woman next to us was throwing up, and in front of us, ambulances were arriving. We were watching all these horrors coming in."
Hospital bosses acknowledge that staff are “tired and, in some cases, traumatised by the pandemic response and all of its impacts”.
Labour MP Daniel Zeichner told the Cambridge Independent : “The pressure on hospitals has not dropped, and I have been watching the numbers closely across the summer and into autumn.
“The data convinced me that we remain in a very precarious position, which is why it is so important that everyone continues to take the simple precautions that help.”
A spokesperson from Cambridge University Hospitals Trust said: "We apologise to patients who have had to wait longer than we would like for treatment.
"Our emergency department has been experiencing extremely high demand.
"In addition, because of Covid safety and social distancing, the emergency department has a reduced number of treatment spaces and seats in waiting areas."
