Whistleblowers say that in emergencies in the ER, patients “were left in the hospital storeroom to die.”

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The pensioners, classified as end-of-life patients, were placed in a storage room when they were taken to the Gloucestershire Royal Hospital emergency room last month

Old people have been left to die on a trolley in a hospital storage room – with only a thin screen to protect their dignity, whistleblowers say.

Witnesses say the miserable fate was endured by at least three who were taken to the emergency room at the troubled Gloucestershire Royal Hospital last month.

Insiders say the retirees, classified as end-of-life patients because of their condition, were left in so-called cohort rooms when no relatives could be found while they waited for beds.

Sources say similar patients were dressed with relatives present and taken to private rooms before they died.

Last night, an insider said: “It broke my heart the first time it happened.

“I wouldn’t treat my pets like that, let alone our own elderly who have the right to die with dignity. No one’s elderly relative needs to be in that corner in their final moments.”

The cohort rooms manned by ambulance personnel were intended as waiting areas for individual non-heavy patients coming into the emergency room to clear ambulances.

But by the end of April, up to four patients of varying ages and ailments were being held in the tiny rooms for up to 36 hours at a time, including dying elderly people.

The whistleblower claimed that when concerns were raised, a senior nurse once replied: “Is the patient complaining?”

The ambulance staff were then told to “bite the bullet” if not.

It is alleged that in late April, ambulance workers raised concerns about the use of the cohort rooms for the dying with senior staff.

Last December, junior staff in the same trust’s ER wrote an open letter to management detailing what they called systemic failures and “unsustainable working conditions.”

A whistleblower told ITV News some managers had told staff to “stop reporting patient safety issues”.

Conditions in the cohort rooms may violate laws that state patients should be treated equally and with dignity and respect.

This includes respect for privacy, e.g. B. That patients aren’t being placed in mixed wards overnight, but hospital bosses say the rules don’t apply to emergency rooms.

The hospital’s ex-boss Deborah Lee was enjoying a combined salary and pension package of over £385,000 in 2020.

Current acting boss Mark Pietroni is paid up to £195,000 a year.

In June 2020, the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall visited the hospital to thank the staff for their work during the pandemic. The Duchess said: “You are Britain at its best.”

Yesterday acting boss Professor Pietroni said: “Waiting times for urgent treatment can be long. We use cohort ranges so we can release ambulances and paramedics back into the community.

“These will certainly not be used as a repository for end-of-life patients, whether or not those patients are accompanied by relatives.

“The safety, dignity and respect of each patient are always our primary concerns, and we strongly reject claims that end-of-life patients who are in our departments without loved ones are treated differently.

“These cohort areas are a temporary measure while a new, larger division is under construction.

“Our staff take the utmost care to ensure that end-of-life patients are treated with the respect they deserve and are urgently moved to adjoining rooms.

“We strive to provide the best possible care, but unfortunately these unprecedented times mean that patient and staff experience is sometimes not what we strive for.”