1 IN 5 A&E CARE ON TROLLEYS & CHAIRS

Crisis in our hospitals is laid bare as poll shows lives are being put at risk

- BY ASHLEY COWBURN

A makeshift bed set up in the corridor of a hospital

ALMOST one in five patients in A&Es were cared for in trolleys or chairs in England this summer, a survey shows today.

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine's research found corridor care is putting lives at risk.

The organisation polled clinical leads who oversee A&Es. The results showed the immense strain the NHS is under with 19% of patients affected.

More than a third of respondents had also experienced patients being cared for in ambulances.

And 78% felt patients were harmed due to the quality of care delivered under such conditions.