Actor Colin McFarlane's mum in 14-hour wait for hospital bed

Colin McFarlane, has starred in numerous TV shows and appeared as Commissioner Loeb in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight

An actor has urged people to avoid unnecessary hospital visits after his 92-year-old mother waited hours to get a bed.

Colin McFarlane, who provides the voice of ITV's The Cube, said it was 14 hours before a bed was found at Lincoln County Hospital.

He praised the care given by staff, who were having "a horrendous time".

Health bosses have said hospital beds in Lincolnshire are almost entirely full.

McFarlane said his mother was taken to the hospital twice within a few days.

During the first visit on Sunday she had to spend two hours in an ambulance before facing a 12-hour wait to be placed in a bed, he said.

She was discharged the following night, but an ambulance was called again on Tuesday morning.

In a tweet, McFarlane said his mum was taken to the hospital at 11:30 GMT and "didn't get a bed till 1.20am almost 14 hours later. Unreal".

He has urged people to think carefully about whether they need to visit the hospital, and to wear a mask outside hospitals because "Lincoln County Hospital at the moment is having an absolutely horrendous time".

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, he said staff told him they had "never seen it like this" and were "all concerned because they haven't reached their winter peak".

"You can absolutely see how someone can die in that situation because of the stress, especially if they don't understand what's going on," he said

Simon Evans, from United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust, said it was working with the ambulance service to improve the "flow in and through our emergency departments".

"At times when our emergency departments get extremely busy we can run out of space, which means ambulance crews have to wait until they are able to safely hand patients over to us," he said.

"We always prioritise the most unwell patients, and when a handover cannot take place immediately, staff are allocated to work alongside ambulance crews to ensure those patients waiting are looked after."