article: A doctor usually deployed to major disaster zones was sent in to a hospital's under-pressure A&E department as staff were forced to treat patients in the corridor, it has emerged. The medical incident officer joined the team caring for patients at Worcestershire Royal Hospital last Friday. It came as the West Midlands Ambulance Service demanded action following delays in treatment. The Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust admitted circumstances were 'less than ideal'. A medical incident doctor, usually deployed to major disaster zones, was sent to help staff at the Worcestershire Royal Hospital's under-pressure A&E department, it has emerged . It came as the weekly national figures from NHS England showed it has missed the four-hour waiting time target for the 28th consecutive week, despite a slight improvement. The proportion of patients seen within the Government maximum of four hours at A&E departments in England is below the target of 95 per cent again - they have not been met since September 28. NHS England said 92.5 per cent of patients spent four hours or less from arrival to admission, transfer or discharge in the week ending April 12. This was a slight improvement on the previous week, when it was 92.4 per cent. The figures include data from last Friday, April 10, where the MIO was sent in to help at Worcestershire Royal Hospital after months of problems. A Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust spokesman apologised for last Friday's incident, and said it was 'working very hard' to prevent it from happening again. An A&E consultant at the Worcestershire Royal Hospital was one of five senior doctors who resigned from their jobs amid the crisis affecting emergency departments at two hospitals. In February four consultants from the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch quit their roles, on the same day as their colleague at the Worcestershire Royal. It left Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust with the task of filling five vacancies in a matter of months as the doctors work their notice periods. In a damning open letter to the trust, four of the consultants branded the NHS trust a 'disgrace' and claimed they had been put under 'unbearable stress'. The 1,700 word letter, signed by Richard Morrell, Sarah Crawford, Christopher Hetherington and David Gemmell, said: 'The trust appears to tolerate massive overcrowding in the county's A&E departments. 'This is a disgrace and a patient safety issue which causes serious harm to many patients and intolerable stress on all A&E staff. 'The situation has taken a heavy toll on our personal and family lives - the stress has been unbearable at times. 'We are battle-weary and exhausted by the continuous pressure that we have been under.' The trust spokesman said: 'We can confirm that on Friday April 10, West Midlands Ambulance paramedics were asked to look after a number of patients in the corridor before they could be transferred in to the care of the A&E staff. 'While the A&E department were unable to allow the ambulance staff to hand over the patients, the A&E staff were aware of their conditions and we wish to assure people that no patients came to any harm.' The spokesman said the medical incident officer was brought in after concerns were raised by the West Midlands Ambulance Service. The spokesman added: 'Both the hospital and ambulance service are working under extreme pressures at the moment, due to a number of external factors. 'Regretfully these pressures have meant some patients being treated in less than ideal conditions and we accept this is not good enough and are working very hard to put this right. 'We are sorry for any distress caused to patients and their families. 'We now need to work together with the ambulance service and other partners to sort the situation out as soon as possible.' Ray Salmon, regional organiser for Unison, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the incident was not 'a new problem' and had 'been building up over a period of months'. He described the situation as 'completely unprecedented', and that the union members were 'furious'. He said: 'One of our reps went public just after Christmas and blew the whistle about the problems and the trust tried to exclude him from the premises, we had a massive argument about that and I reckon that since then the problem is getting even worse. 'Then last week when the ambulance service had to bring in their own doctor, well that was actually just completely unprecedented, it's really winding people up.' The trust said no patients came to any harm during last Friday's incident, but Mr Salmon said the situation was starting to affect patient care. The move came as staff were forced to treat patients in the hospital's corridors. (File image posed by model) He said: 'It's a combination of bad planning and it's also a combination of under-resourcing. 'We've been saying for years the Government hasn't put enough money in to the NHS. 'You listen to the politicians at the moment and the gloating about what a great job they've done over the last five years, and they're talking about what they're going to do over the next five years. 'But the situation is at the moment there's just not enough resources gone in, there's not enough staff, and that's affecting patients, it's totally unacceptable.' According to today's NHS waiting times figures, there were 443,274 attendances in A&E for the seven-day period, up slightly on the previous week when it was 441,099. The number of people waiting for more than four hours was 7,434 - slightly lower than 7,459 a week earlier. Similarly, the number of people waiting for more than 12 hours was 15 - down from 22 the previous week. Emergency admissions were 102,163, compared with 106,160 the previous week.
highlights: Medical incident officer sent to help at Worcestershire Royal Hospital .
  Came as staff were forced to treat some patients in the hospital's corridors .
  NHS trust that runs the hospital admits circumstances are 'less than ideal'
  Said they are 'working very hard' to prevent a similar incident again .
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