'Last night was the worst I've seen' - A&E nurse

A Birmingham nurse, who did not want to be named, said she had seen 90-year-old women who had to wait for beds for 24 hours

An NHS nurse said last night was the worst she had seen in her time in an A&E department.

The Birmingham nurse told the BBC the waiting time for patients was more than 14 hours. On some shifts she had seen 50 patients waiting for beds.

NHS Trusts in areas such as Birmingham, Warwickshire, Liverpool and Plymouth have declared critical incidents this week, citing extreme pressure on emergency wards amid rising flu rates.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said on Tuesday that he felt "ashamed" by some patients' experiences, after he saw people distressed and stuck in corridors on a recent hospital visit.

The nurse, who did not want to be named, said the prime minister should "sit in the A&E waiting room for 12 hours and see what we have to go through".

"It was the worst night ever last night," she told BBC Radio 5Live.

"The waiting time was over 14 hours and it's just horrendous."

She said her shifts included seeing 90-year-old women waiting for beds for 24 hours, young people who said they were suicidal, and people collapsing in the waiting room.

She added she was "dreading" her next shift but she wanted to help people.

'What do you say?'

Many hospitals have cited high numbers of flu patients as one source of pressure this winter, with NHS chiefs issuing a warning on rising rates last week.

The nurse said her teams were short-staffed and many staff members were doing 12-hour shifts with no break, prompting "a lot of people" to consider resigning.

"There's like 50 patients waiting for beds. They keep coming [and] saying: 'Where's the bed? Where's the bed?' What do you say to these patients?" she said.

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Politicians should spend proper time in A&E departments, instead of just visiting to "have a photograph with a couple of nurses," she said.

She added: "Keir Starmer needs to come to an A&E and, instead of walking on a ward with all these matrons, he needs to sit in the A&E waiting room for 12 hours and see what we have to go through.

"It's 2025, we shouldn't be seeing this."

In the NHS, an organisation declares a critical incident when it cannot deliver critical services due to high levels of disruption.