‘Every hospital corridor I saw had people in beds’

A woman who was asked to go to the emergency room during a critical incident at Nottingham hospitals said she saw people “in beds in every corridor” she encountered.

Lucy Buckle, 38, said the scenes inside the Queen’s Medical Center (QMC) on Tuesday were “scary” and described the atmosphere as “very loud and very chaotic”.

Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) said the situation was improving but its hospitals were “still full”.

Speaking to the BBC, Buckle praised the staff and said: “They were amazing… everyone was very professional and they really made me feel at ease.”

The trust said on Tuesday that QMC’s emergency department was designed to treat 350 patients a day, but the site “regularly” saw more than 500 patients.

Buckle suffered a dog bite and called the NHS 111 service. He was then advised to go to the emergency room to receive a tetanus shot and for someone to assess the injury.

She said she heard about the critical incident at the hospital before she was ordered to go there.

The 38-year-old added that she was seen relatively quickly because she was bleeding.

“I was quite reluctant to go because I knew how busy it was going to be, but they said it was my best course of action,” she said.

“I was told I had to go and not risk losing my finger, so I was apprehensive.”

“It was so busy [A&E]very noisy, very chaotic… as I was moved around the hospital to different departments, there were people in beds in every corridor and I would say the majority of them were elderly.

“It was really upsetting, sometimes when I was waiting for an x-ray I would hear people screaming in the hallway.

“You could see nurses and staff running around trying to get to everyone as quickly as possible, machines beeping everywhere.

“I felt guilty about being there, I didn’t want to take up space unless I absolutely had to, but it was quite scary to think if I was there because of a heart attack or something really bad,” she said.

But Buckle praised the staff who were on duty and said they handled the situation with a smile on their face despite coming into contact with “aggressive people”.

“They were amazing…everyone was very professional and they really made me feel at ease.

“I couldn’t work in that environment and we all have to be very grateful that they continue every day,” she said.

An NUH spokesperson said: “While our situation is improving, we are still not where we need to be for our patients or staff and our hospitals are still full.

“We continue to take every measure possible, including opening more space, but you can also help us by going to the emergency room only in an emergency.”

The association also urged people to “collect patients quickly” when they are ready to be sent home.