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A patient died after being forced to wait for an hour inside an ambulance outside an overstretched A&E department.

Paramedics were told there was no room inside Worcestershire Royal Hospital for the man, so he had to stay in their vehicle.

His condition deteriorated and he was brought into A&E after an hour but suffered a cardiac arrest and died on a trolley in the corridor.

The tragedy happened on November 27 - days after Health Secretary Matt Hancock visited the hospital while election campaigning.

Chancellor Sajid Javid previously refused to promise extra government funding to expand the overwhelmed A&E department.

Do you know the patient who died on November 27? If so, please call our newsdesk on 0207 293 3831 or email webnews@mirror.co.uk

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Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust and West Midlands Ambulance Service say they are investigating what happened.

In a statement they told the BBC: “On the night in question there were a number of ambulances waiting longer than we would want outside.

“We are taking positive action but recognise that there is more that needs to be done.”

The tragedy happened a month after paramedics waited more than 11 hours outside the Worcestershire Royal with a patient.

On the same day, 34 ambulance patients waited more than an hour to be booked in at the hospital in Worcester.

An ex-soldier said it was “worse than those in Iraq and Afghanistan” after his dad spent seven hours in an ambulance outside A&E.

Paul Reid, who served with the Royal Army Medical Corps, said his 91-year-old dad’s dignity and respect were later compromised.

He described how the frail pensioner was wheeled into a corridor which already contained 14 patients waiting on beds.

Paul added: “It was stacked with beds on either side making effective cleaning impossible, increasing the risk of disease transmission and compromised infection control.

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“I do health and safety examinations and if I’d come across this I’d have closed them down.

“Sitting waiting in the back of an ambulance is really quite criminal. I was in Iraq and Afghanistan and their hospitals are better than ours.”

His dad was in the ambulance so long he was transferred to another as the original crew’s shift was over.

“They were extremely professional and couldn’t stop apologising for the wait my father had to endure,” added Paul, whose dad died in October.

“I counted 16 ambulances outside A&E at the same time that night.”

In September the trust’s chief executive posted a photo on Twitter showing ambulances queuing up outside A&E.

Matthew Hopkins wrote: “When we get things wrong we should acknowledge it & apologise to patients who experience long waits for urgent care. Please accept my apologies.”

The trust has been hit by a series of scandals and has been in special measures for four years.

In January 2017 two patients died after waiting for hours in corridors in the A&E department.

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One victim spent 35 agonising hours on a trolley before suffering a fatal cardiac arrest.

A second patient suffered a brain aneurysm while lying in a corridor and later died in a resuscitation area.

In May 2015 two patients had cardiac arrests on trolleys in corridors while waiting to be seen by medics.

Patients were also treated in a room reserved for relatives to view loved ones who have died.

In April 2015 ambulance chiefs drafted in a “major disaster” doctor to cope with conditions at the swamped A&E department.

The unprecedented move came after staff complained of “third world” conditions at the hospital.

It was the first time a major disaster doctor had been used to treat patients in a UK hospital.

The Medical Incident Officer, who usually works in major disaster zones, was drafted in by West Midlands Ambulance Service.