Leicester Royal Infirmary criticised over long A&E wait times

Some patients said they slept on waiting room seats or were sent to a tent in the car park

An A&E is struggling with long waits due to soaring demand, health bosses have said.

Some patients at the Leicester Royal Infirmary (LRI) told the BBC they waited hours to be seen and even longer to be given beds.

The hospital said it was seeing up to 800 people a day, compared to 350 to 500 before the pandemic.

NHS bosses apologised and said issues surrounding access to GPs and social care were a factor.

According to the latest NHS figures from March, only 55% of patients were dealt with after four hours of arriving at the LRI. The target is 95%.

There have been long waits for ambulances to take people to hospital

Kevin Draycott told BBC Radio Leicester his 79-year-old mother June went to A&E on Friday afternoon and despite being told she was a priority case due to an infection in her arm, she spent all night sitting on hard plastic chairs.

"The staff have gone above and beyond and even they said it was disgusting," he said.

"How they could leave such and elderly lady in A&E for such a long time without a bed? It is just unbelievable.

"My mum was a very fit lady and I have never seen her like this."

Mr Draycott said his mother was finally given a bed at 13:30 BST on Saturday and was still being treated.

Some patients spent hours waiting in A&E, said relatives

Lauren Hutchman said her 85-year-old grandfather, Brian O'Connell, spent 23 hours sitting in A&E in April.

She said she drove him to hospital after being told there was a 10-hour wait for an ambulance, and arrived at 23:30. However, he was only admitted to a ward at 10:30 the next day.

"He was sat in the waiting room all that time which wasn't a nice experience at all.

"There was drunk people there, there were people arguing and fighting and abusing staff.

"He wasn't feeling very well anyway and of course he couldn't get any sleep there," she said.

Mr O'Connell recovered after being kept in overnight and given antibiotics.

'Working incredibly hard'

Other patients complained they were sent to a tent in the car park, and claimed they felt like "refugees".

Andrew Furlong, medical director of the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, apologised for the problems.

He said: "I've worked in the NHS for 30 years and it is as tough as it's ever been.

"Our staff are working incredibly hard but they are finding it very difficult with the way facilities are and the access to beds and the waits for patients at the moment.

"It's a tough one in terms of how we fix this - I think people need more access to their GPs and we desperately need more access to social care."

He also asked people to consider carefully whether they needed to come to A&E.