Patient-stacking:

Seriously ill patients are being kept in ambulances outside hospitals for hours so NHS trusts do not miss Government targets. Thousands of people a year are having to wait outside accident and emergency departments because trusts will not let them in until they can treat them within four hours, in line with a Labour pledge. The hold-ups mean ambulances are not available to answer fresh 999 calls. Doctors warned last night that the practice of “patient-stacking” was putting patients’ health at risk. Figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats show that last year 43,576 patients waited longer than one hour before being let into emergency units.