Skip to content

'Staff at A&E were running out of trolley space'

Anne-Marie Tasker/BBC A woman with white hair just above her shoulders who is wearing black rectangular glasses. She is sat in a chair looking into the camera with a serious expression. She is wearing a spotty-striped dark red long-sleeved top. Behind her is a snake plant and a long green and black chair.Anne-Marie Tasker/BBC
Janet Heron said the staff at Hull Royal Infirmary were "absolutely amazing" despite being "overwhelmed"

A woman has described how hospital staff were "running out of space" for trolleys during her seven-hour wait at A&E.

Janet Heron, from Beverley, was taken to Hull Royal Infirmary (HRI) in an ambulance on 7 January after experiencing severe chest pain.

Upon arrival at the hospital, Ms Heron said she was "amazed" to join a queue of around 30 people already waiting, a figure she was told went up to 86 once she got a room.

NHS Humber Health Partnership (HHP) said there were 25 trolleys at the time, and apologised for those currently facing "long waits" across its emergency departments due to a rise in "sicker patients" with issues such as flu.

On the left is a building with automatic doors stating 'Emergency Departments'. Several ambulance vehicles are parked in front of it.
NHS Humber Health Partnership said it had up to 126 people at once in Hull Royal Infirmary's emergency department on 7 January

Ms Heron said she arrived at HRI at 15:00 GMT when she joined a queue of around 30 people waiting on trolleys, three corridors away from A&E.

During her long wait, she said she was given an electrocardiogram by a doctor along with blood tests.

At some time between 22:00 and midnight, Ms Heron said a room was found for her.

At this time, Ms Heron said she was informed by a doctor that there were 86 patients waiting on hospital trolleys to get into A&E.

NHS HHP has told the BBC the number was 25.

At one point, Ms Heron said the queue of trolleys was "snaking all the way back to Costa Coffee", which is located near the main entrance to the hospital.

"They were physically running out of space to put trolleys," she said.

'Staff overwhelmed'

She added: "I was amazed. I've seen it busy but not that busy.

"The staff were really overwhelmed at one point I think but they did their best."

Ms Heron said she believes having only one A&E department covering East and North Yorkshire and the Humber region was a "big problem".

'Sicker patients'

A spokesperson from NHS HHP said: "In the last seven days we've seen 1,860 attendances at Hull and on the night of this patient's visit we had up to 126 people in the department at once."

They said at this time of year they see "sicker patients" such as those with flu who stay in hospital for longer, which results in "long waits" in A&E.

"Our staff are working incredibly hard to see and treat people as quickly as possible, and we are really proud of their efforts, but we know that we are seeing people experience longer waits than we would like and for that we apologise," they added.

Listen to highlights from Hull and East Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.

More on this story
Related internet links