A MUM who spent 12 hours in a Great Western Hospital corridor on a trolley claims she saw an elderly man also waiting on a trolley die front of her.

Patsy Dee, 55, who suffers from a serious heart condition, was rushed to the GWH on Sunday at 9.30pm after experiencing chest pains.

Patsy, who lives in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, said she watched a man in his eighties die away as he lay on a trolley in the central aisle of a crowded emergency room.

She says the death of the unnamed man was witnessed by around 25 other people.

Patsy said the incident happened at around midnight and she was "disgusted" the man had died "without dignity".

She said: "The whole experience was absolutely horrendous.

"No one should die in front of everyone like that.

"I had literally walked past the man the minute before it happened, and as I did I caught his eye.

"I nearly stopped and went up to him because he looked so ill, but I thought I would be told I wasn't qualified to help.

"He was very elderly and frail and he looked to be in his eighties - he wasn't saying anything or asking for help, but I could tell he was very poorly.

"A minute later, he must have died as the doctors suddenly rushed him into the resuscitation area and started pumping his chest. It was like a scene out of a movie.

"It was disgusting he should die on a trolley in the room in front of everyone - there is no dignity in that and for it to happen in front of everyone was just awful.

"Everyone deserves to die with dignity, but his death wasn't dignified in any way.

"I think they should have given him space in a cubicle at least.

"He was probably someone's grandad, someone's dad - it could happen to anyone."

The Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust assured people that a full investigation into the matter is currently underway.

A spokesman said: “We have a duty to protect patient confidentiality and as such are unable to provide further information. However, as is standard procedure with all hospital deaths, a thorough investigation to determine what happened is already under way. It is therefore not appropriate to speculate at this early stage until the full facts are known.

“What’s clear is that like other hospitals across the country, demand for our services has been unprecedented in recent weeks, which is proving a genuine challenge for hospitals like ours.

"We continue to do all we can to see patients as quickly as possible to give them the treatment they may need.”  

Patsy suffers from heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome and was diagnosed with stage three heart failure in November.

When she got to hospital she waited on a chair in a cubicle in an emergency room for four hours until 2am before being moved to a trolley, where she remained in a corridor for 12 hours while awaiting test results.

Patsy said she was then transferred to a bed on one of the hospital's wards but spent just an hour there before she was discharged.

The mum-of-three claims there were about 12 trolleys in an aisle in the middle of the emergency room, one of which was occupied by the elderly man in his eighties.

Patsy said: “Some of the people there that night had been waiting for emergency treatment for 13 hours. There were between 20 and 30 people there – everyone waiting on the trolleys in the aisle in the middle of the room, the people in the cubicles and their families.

“The whole situation was really upsetting. Shortly after the old man was taken into resuscitation, someone told one of the other patients sat near me that he had passed away.

“I don’t know what the old man’s name was or what was wrong with him. Apparently his family had been there earlier in the evening but had to leave.

“I’m not blaming the staff in any way – they were fantastic – the hospital just didn’t have the room for everyone.

“I don’t think he was being ignored, people were just so busy and the staff were run ragged, but would people have realised how ill he was if he had been monitored properly?”