Shocked Leah Butler-Smith claims to have filmed dozens of full ambulances stuck outside an packed A&E - as her stricken mum lay in the back of one with a suspected stroke
THIS is the horrifying moment a woman filmed dozens of full ambulances stuck outside an packed A&E - as her stricken mum lay in the back of one with a suspected stroke.
Guidelines warn ambulance staff to transfer patients to the care of doctors within 15 minutes of arrival so they can attend other 999 calls.
But staff shortages and a spike in patient numbers caused chaos outside hospitals across Britain.
Filming the gridlock outside Essex's Broomfield Hospital, Leah Butler-Smith claimed on Facebook: "So we are tenth outside all in ambulances containing patients currently waiting to be admitted to the hospital.
"My mother has a fever and has had a stroke. There are 25 or more ambulances and urgent patients waiting outside at this hospital alone.
"We have consultants wandering around the ambulances trying to ascertain what they can do. ]
"So you can imagine – knowing we’ve got hours and hours of waiting with mumsy in a serious condition and seeing the stress of the staff who are overwhelmed and deeply hurt that this is happening to their patients and to them!
"They are amazing and seriously kind but hearing the facts of what they deal with day in and day out is heartbreaking.
On Sunday Throughout the Sunday there was an average of ten to 14 at Portsmouth's Queen Alexandra hospital queuing to unload patients.
It peaked at 24 vehicles — with one ambulance waiting five hours, 26 minutes.
"The hospital can not redirect patients to any other hospital as none will accept them.
Managers had to ask off-duty staff to come in to help and took to social media to tell patients to stay away unless they were seriously ill.
One woman wrote on Facebook: “The hospital is hideously stretched.
“My husband sat in an ambulance for two hours, then a corridor for 40 minutes before a blood test indicated the seriousness of his condition and he was moved to resuscitation.”
The hospital was so full it declared an “internal incident” — a status even higher than an extremely serious “black alert”.
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