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An MP claims patients in an overstretched West Yorkshire hospital had to sleep on the floor.

But chiefs at the hospital deny this was the case and that the patients must have chosen to bed down on the ground rather than sitting on chairs.

Tracy Brabin, MP for Batley & Spen and Shadow Minster for Early Years, sent the Examiner these two photographs of patients she said were on the floor at Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield. Many people from north Kirklees are treated at the hospital.

She said: “Shocking photographs of patients sleeping on floors at Pinderfields Hospital over the Christmas period. This comes after increasing evidence that the crisis in the NHS is even worse than last year.

“I have been inundated with constituents telling me their difficulties of being treated over the festive period. With one stroke victim waiting over three hours for an ambulance it is understandable how clinicians are calling this the worst crisis they have ever seen.

“While we know staff are working flat out it is deeply troubling to hear Jeremy Hunt say that no patient is left on a trolley when clearly some are forced to wait on hospital floors before being treated. In my opinion this a deliberate and systematic underfunding, an ideological choice in preparation for continued NHS privatisation.”

(Image: PA)

Prime Minister Theresa May has apologised for the delay in scheduled operations saying she knows that cancelled operations were “difficult, frustrating and disappointing.”

David Melia, Director of Nursing and Quality at The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust which runs Pinderfields, said: “On Tuesday, January 2 we, like the rest of the country, experienced unprecedented demand on our emergency departments. Our staff worked tirelessly throughout the whole Christmas and New Year period to ensure our patients were safely treated in as timely a manner as possible.

“The Trust has received no complaints regarding the care of the two patients identified in the photographs, who may have chosen to lie down as seats were provided.

“Should visitors have any concerns about patient care they should speak to a member of staff at the time.”