Stroke patient waited on trolley for 36 hours

A stroke patient waited more than 36 hours on a trolley at a Brighton hospital, the BBC has learned.

It comes as data obtained by the BBC shows thousands of people were waiting more than eight hours to be admitted to the Brighton's Royal Sussex County Hospital (RSCH) - where the incident happened.

Friends said the patient was taken by ambulance to the hospital just after 18:00 BST on Sunday, and was still on a trolley in A&E at 07:00 on Tuesday.

A hospital trust spokesperson said that staff were "working incredibly hard in extremely difficult circumstances".

Figures obtained by the BBC revealed that in 2022-23 more than 12,000 patients of almost 85,000 people who attended A&E department at the RSCH waited more than eight hours.

The figures obtained via a BBC Freedom of Information request showed a similar ratio the previous year.

The University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, which oversees the hospital, told the BBC its A&E departments were under severe pressure.

Siobhan Murray, managing director for unscheduled care, said: "Sadly these pressures mean people are waiting longer for treatment than we would ever want. Our staff are working incredibly hard in extremely difficult circumstances.

“The problems we see in A&E are not caused there - they are the product of pressures across the system, not just in our hospitals where there are a number of patients who are medically ready to leave, but also across the wider NHS and social care system."

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine said long waits in A&E were linked to increased patient harm and excess deaths.

The spokesperson said: "There is considerable scientific evidence to show that delays to care and long waits in admission to hospital increase a patient’s risk of harm and death."

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