Two patients died after waiting in ambulance outside 'full' Oldham hospital

Two patients died after being left waiting in ambulances outside an over-stretched hospital.
The patients, believed to have been in their 80s, couldn’t get into the Royal Oldham Hospital for seven and 20 minutes respectively.
They were assessed by ambulance crews as ‘very sick’ and were both suspected of having suffered heart attacks.
The A&E department was so busy that all but the most urgent cases were being sent to other hospitals at the time. All five resuscitation beds at Oldham were full.
The two patients were assessed and treated by a casualty doctor and senior nurse in the ambulances.
It is understood neither actually had suffered a heart attack by the time they were admitted – although both later died at the hospital. One died in the resuscitation unit the following day and the other three days after being admitted to a ward.
A probe has been launched after ambulance chiefs reported the incident to regional health authority NHS North West.
It comes just two months after bosses at Pennine Acute Trust – which runs the Royal Oldham – closed the A&E at neighbouring Rochdale Infirmary.
Trust bosses denied that had left Oldham unable to cope.
They said that while they had been ‘particularly busy’ on the night – last Monday – the two patients had received treatment in the ambulances.
An official said: "We have five adult resuscitation beds in A&E for seriously ill ambulance patients.
"If there are five resuscitation patients in the department then they must be stabilised before they can be moved.
"Ensuring that patients get the right treatment at the right time and in the right place is an absolute priority for us."
The trust said that, in line with national trends, demand for emergency care was 10 per cent higher than this time last year across the trust – which also has hospitals in Bury and North Manchester.
A spokeswoman for the North West Ambulance Service said when A&E departments were struggling to cope, all but life-threatening cases were diverted to alternative hospitals.
Union official Craig Wilde, north west ambulance spokesman for Unison, said: "It is completely unacceptable to leave critically ill patients in ambulances outside A&E departments. It puts our members in a terrible position."
Patients groups said they had reports of significant overcrowding at the hospital.
David Cartwright, from the Patients Council, said: "We have been receiving numerous calls over the past few months regarding Oldham A&E being fit to burst, and on some occasions some patients taking over six hours to be treated.
"A colleague advised that ambulances were eight deep on Monday evening queuing to get access with sick patients on-board."
A spokesman for NHS North West said: "We are working closely with Pennine Acute Hospitals Trust, North West Ambulance Service and NHS Oldham to understand the pressures that the Royal Oldham Hospital A&E was under on the night of May 16 and to see if there are any improvements to be made or actions to be taken."
Pennine Acute said that it had not received any complaints from the families of the patients who died.
 by Amanda Crook and Alice McKeegan taken from http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/health/s/1421402_two-patients-died-after-waiting-in-ambulance-outside-full-oldham-hospital-unit