A CRISIS IN PLAIN SIGHT...

Elderly in aisles days, says report

- BY JEREMY ARMSTRONG and SIMON MURPHY

ELDERLY patients were left watching others die as they waited for hours in hospital corridors, a shock report reveals.

The charity Age UK warned corridor care is now a crisis in plain sight in the NHS, with people waiting days for a bed.

One patient likened treatment on trolleys to war films with "queues of stretchers and people suffering". One woman died from a heart attack after being left to wait. Another was "lost" on a disused corridor.

A man was left hooked up to an IV drip in a chair for 20 hours and soiled himself, unable to get to the toilet.

Some patients have waited for days in corridors before being admitted to a ward a standard which the charity says "is now almost expected" in some A&Es.

And there are fears the situation could get even worse as the NHS heads into winter. Age UK warns that many patients are unwilling to go to A&E, even if they are in a life-threatening situation, because of their past experiences.

Caroline Abrahams, director of Age UK, said: "What's happening to some older people when they come to A&E is a crisis hiding in plain sight which the government must face up to and take immediate action to resolve."

The catalogue of cases highlighted in the report included a 79-year-old woman from South London who said: "Corridors were lined with patients on trolleys, hooked up to drips, some moaning in pain. It reminded me of war films, with queues of stretchers and people suffering. I was next to a man who was clearly unwell.