A scheme to reduce pressure on an Accident and Emergency unit has been suspended following the death of a "devoted" father denied casualty treatment just six days after it launched.

The trial was one of dozens being set up on health officials’ orders amid a growing crisis over hospital overcrowding.

An official investigation is now under way into why Dave Birtwistle, 44, a father-of-one, was turned away from the A&E department at Bristol Royal Infirmary.

Mr Birtwistle, described by his grieving widow as previously "fit and healthy", had gone to casualty suffering from breathlessness.

But instead of being treated by A&E doctors, he was seen by a non-emergency GP service that sent him home - only to die two days later.