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An elderly lady soiled herself and a young woman screamed while in the grip of a psychiatric episode - all in the corridors of an overcrowded Aintree Hospital A&E department.

The ECHO has spoken to a Crosby man whose partner was rushed to hospital by ambulance in the early hours of Monday, (January 27) due to severe abdominal pains, only to spend seven hours on a trolley in a corridor of the packed emergency department.

While full of praise for the efforts of dedicated staff, the man, who did not wish to be named, said the situation was "horrendous."

He said: "I let her go in the ambulance and I followed her up. I found her on a bed in a corridor where there was about 10 to 15 people on beds.

"She was in really bad pain in her abdomen, she was shaking like a leaf.

"There were older people, and an old lady had been asking to go to the toilet because she had soiled herself. They brought in an alcoholic who was screaming, he was with his mum and she was just saying 'what can I do?'

"There was a young girl, about 23, who came in holding a teddy bear screaming. She clearly needed some psychiatric help."

The couple were forced to wait until much later in the morning before being sent to Liverpool Women's Hospital where tests were carried out.

The man said his partner is now awaiting an MRI scan and has been prescribed powerful pain relief.

He said: "The doctors kept apologising, saying they were so very sorry there was no privacy in the corridor. Obviously it's not the doctors' fault, they were very, very good.

"But it looked like the staff were demoralised. They were doing the best that they could but you could see it in their faces they couldn't get to everyone.

"One doctor said to me it's the worst it has ever been."

This winter NHS figures have revealed the worst A&E waiting times on record, with almost 30% of patients in Merseyside waiting more than the national target of four hours to be seen.

In Aintree during December 78.8% of patients admitted to A&E were seen in under four hours.

Concerns about pressures in A&E in both Aintree and the Royal Liverpool Hospital have been raised to the board of the trust which runs both sites.

Reports submitted to bosses of Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust this month noted: "Increased demand in the Emergency Department giving a perception of increased harm.

"The evidence for this was being explored with cases subjected to the Serious Incident process when appropriate."

A spokesperson for Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: "Patient safety is our top priority. We apologise for the patient’s experience on this occasion.

"Winter is the busiest time of year for A&E and our staff continue working hard to treat people as quickly as possible.

"Everyone is treated on the basis of clinical need, which is assessed in discussion with our staff. Within our A&E, all patients are under the care of dedicated clinical staff."