THIS is a snapshot of a public hospital system in crisis.

An elderly woman, 95, lies on the floor of the Royal Hobart Hospital emergency dep­artment waiting room, with nothing but a makeshift bed of towels as she waits hours to be seen by clinical staff.

A shocked fellow patient who took the photo told the Mercury she could not believe her eyes as the elderly lady, who arrived to ED in a wheelchair, was laid on her side on the floor.

The Tasmanian Health Service confirmed the incident, and AMA Tasmania boss Tim Greenaway described it as “reflective of a system that was not coping”.

The incident, earlier this week, comes as a new nation hospital report card has marked down the state across key indicators including yearly targets and elective surgery waiting and treatment times.

Dr Greenaway said the AMA Public Hospital Report Card showed Tasmania’s public hospitals were some of the worst in the country for elective surgery and blamed funding cuts at state and federal level for negatively affecting performance targets.

“Tasmanians are waiting longer than anyone for surgery that, although is titled elective, is in fact necessary and impacts heavily on emergency load in public hospitals,” he said.

“What it shows is that year after year Tasmanians have a public health system that is under pressure and the situation is getting worse. We need appropriate funding from Commonwealth and State governments.”

The Claremont woman who photographed the patient said she had been waiting in the ED with her young daughter when she saw the elderly lady being moved from her wheelchair to the floor.

“She didn’t speak or move when she was there, she just lay there,” said the woman, who asked not to be identified.

“She was quite unwell by the look of her. I’m not sure how long she was waiting before we got there, but she was still there four hours later when we were seen.

“Her family asked whether she could have a pillow to put under her head and a blanket was brought out and rolled up.

“I’m sure they could have found an old stretcher bed for her to lie on.

“It was pretty disgusting really. There was another younger girl aged about 16 lying on the floor as well.”

The incident was confirmed by THS (South) executive director of services Craig Watson, who blamed a particularly busy night in the emergency department for the lack of a bed for the woman.

Mr Watson said it was regrettable that the patient was not able to be accommodated more appropriately and this had been conveyed to both the patient and her family.

“It has been brought to my attention that a 95-year-old lady, who presented at the RHH Emergency Department with vomiting last night, lay on the hospital floor for approximately two hours waiting for entry into the ED for assessment,” Mr Watson said.

“I am advised the patient’s son placed his mother on the floor, with blankets, when all available beds were occupied by higher-urgency patients due to a high level of emergency presentations.

“On the night, 195 patients presented at the ED, with 47 patients still present at midnight, including the lady in question.”

The hospital report card revealed a year-on-year drop in 2014/15 in the percentage of urgent emergency department patients seen within the recommended time of 30 minutes, a reduction in ED visits completed in four hours or less, an increase in elective surgery waiting times, and a decrease in the percentage of category two elective surgery patients admitted within the recommended time of 90 days.

Health Minister Michael Ferguson admitted the report card confirmed what the Government already knew — that the hospital system was under pressure and more needed to be done to service the community’s health needs.

But Mr Ferguson expressed optimism that a brighter economic outlook would mean more resources for the health sector.

“With the economy growing and the Budget coming back under control, we can now invest the dividends of this into the core business of government — such as health,” Mr Ferguson said.

But Labor Health spokeswoman Rebecca White said the report card presented a damning picture of the state of Tasmania’s public hospitals, saying the Hodgman Government had failed to meet any of the performance criteria set out.