Patients waiting up to SIX DAYS for a proper hospital bed

PATIENTS have been left waiting up to six days for a hospital bed, The Sun on Sunday can reveal.

The horrifying figures lay bare the crippling scale of the crisis hitting the NHS.

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Sick Brits are being left on trolleys for over 24 hours across the vast majority of England’s hospitals.

In the worst case, a patient at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn in Norfolk had to wait 141 hours to be admitted to a mental health bed.

Shadow Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, blamed the crisis on a shortage of doctors, nurses and hospital beds.

He raged: “This shows that 24 hours in A&E isn’t just a TV programme, it is the appalling reality for too many patients.

“The Conservatives have failed to train the doctors and nurses the NHS needs, leaving patients to wait longer than ever before. 

“It was unthinkable just a few years ago that people would be left waiting almost a week for care in an emergency.

“The Government should nick Labour’s plan to double medical school places, and get patients treated on time again.”

A staggering 85 per cent of English hospital trusts said they had patients waiting 24 hours or longer for a bed to become available.

The numbers date from September 2021 to September 2022.

In one shocking case, a patient waited for over two days (59 hours) to be seen  by the doctor they needed at East Suffolk and North Essex Hospital Trust.

On another occasion, a sick Brit had to wait 46 hours at University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation because of “staff shortages”.

Labour is calling on Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to cough up the cash to double medical school places and train 10,000 more nurses a year when he unveils his Budget later this month.

An NHS spokesman said: “Over the last year, problems discharging patients to the most appropriate care settings, alongside the huge demands of flu and Covid peaking together, have seen hospital occupancy and A&E attendances reach record levels.

“This means patient flow through hospitals has been slower and some people have spent longer in A&E than we would like.”

The spokesman said £1 billion is being pumped into freeing hospital beds to tackle the crisis.

A Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care System spokesman said of the 141 hour wait: “We would like to apologise for the length of the wait in this case. 

“Like all health and care systems across the country, we continue to face significant pressure with demand on health and care services. 

“Our staff continue to do all they can to ensure patients who need urgent health and care support receive the care they need, in the most appropriate setting.”