A mum has described scenes inside a Merseyside NHS treatment centre as "heartbreaking" after witnessing large numbers of children sat on the floor in the "full to capacity" facility.
The mum, who has asked not to be named, took her three-year-old child to the Arrowe Park Urgent Treatment Centre on Sunday and said she was shocked at what she witnessed.
She shared an image of people sat on the floor, lining the corridor of the building, with a number of them children. Another image showed a sign on the wall stating "we are currently full to capacity - you can expect waits in excess of four hours."
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The mum said her wait was even longer than this. She said: "The hospital was at full capacity, my three-year-old had to wait nearly eight hours just to be seen, four of those (hours) she had to lie on the floor."
The concerned mum described chaotic scenes around her as the treatment centre tried to deal with huge existing pressures and a large number of parents with children exhibiting suspected Strep A symptoms.
She said: "I took a picture of the state of things on arrival and it got significantly worse quite quickly. Never in my life have I seen so many children in hospital, and so many children (mostly in with suspected strep A) sitting and lying on the floor because there were not nearly enough seats.
"The scary thing is that nurses and paramedics are not yet on strike. God help these kids when they do. It was like being in a third world country. It was just heartbreaking to see."
While based within the Arrowe Park Hospital site, the Urgent Treatment Centre is not run by the main Wirral University Hospital Trust and instead comes under the management of the Wirral Community Health and Care Trust.
There are plans in place for a new state-of-the-art £28m urgent and emergency care facility to be built at the hospital. The new facility, due to open in 2024, will have more capacity and more space to treat children.
Responding to the images and account of the mum, a spokesperson for Wirral Community Health and Care Trust said: "We are currently experiencing extremely high demand at the Urgent Treatment Centre and patients are having to wait longer than expected. The safety of our patients and staff is our top priority and we are taking all necessary action to ensure safe and effective patient care and address the current pressures.
"We know parents and carers are worried about recent reports of cases of Group A Strep in children and young people and our teams are working hard to ensure children receive the care and treatment they need."
The distressing image is the latest to be shared with the ECHO which highlights the enormous pressures facing the National health Service. Last week, we published an image of a long queue of patients lined on a corridor in the new Royal Liverpool Hospital.
The shot was taken by Liverpool Councillor Barry Kushner, who was waiting in the hospital with his 92-year-old cousin.. He said his elderly relative had been waiting in that same corridor since 9.30am and at 5.25pm had been told that no ward spaces would be available until the next day.
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