A paramedic emerged from the ‘worst shift’ he’d ever had to report one patient waiting six hours in the back of an ambulance as the NHS suffers ‘New Year’s Eve’ level pressures. ‘The NHS has collapsed’, warned the paramedic, as hospitals, ambulance services, GP practices and more face crippling pressure across the country.
He said he waited outside Stepping Hill Hospital's emergency department for hours. “I’ve never seen it this bad in my life,” he told the Manchester Evening News .
Meanwhile, some '100 patients’ are stuck in the hospital waiting to go home but are unable to be discharged due to shortages in social care, according to the paramedic. He added that crews would normally have been directed to take patients to other hospitals in the region facing less demand, but are instead being told ‘all hospitals in Greater Manchester are in the same position’.
