A woman was left unattended on a trolley in a corridor for nearly an hour-and-a-half at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital just days before she died of a brain haemorrhage, it was revealed today.

Carol Morris, aged 53, of Gains Park, Shrewsbury, died in April 2008 at Staffordshire Hospital.

She had been transferred seven days earlier from Shrewsbury.

Carol Morris

Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS trust admitted breaching care standards after Mrs Morris was left on an ambulance trolley in a corridor for more than 80 minutes because there were no beds available in A&E.

An independent medical report by Dr Tom Burton, of Sheffield’s Northern General Hospital, criticised the care she received and was made public today.

It said despite complaining of ‘severe head pains’ ambulance staff were left to look after her and it took two-and-a-half hours to make a full clinical assessment. By that time her condition was deteriorating and it is thought she suffered an initial bleed to the brain.

Eight hours after admission Mrs Morris was transferred to the North Staff- ordshire Hospital where she later suffered a second brain haemorrhage and died.

Dr Burton said: “I feel the care Mrs Morris received was seriously deficient. I believe the initial assessment was poor and the resp- onse was tardy, substandard and poorly co-ordinated.”

He added: “I find the situation where an emergency department refuses to take responsibility for potentially ill ambulance patients reprehensible.”

In a review, the trust denied an earlier diagnosis of the haemorrhage would have led to a better outcome.

But Bettelyn Powell, of the NHS Litigation Authority, said: “It is accepted that the trust breached their duty of care by failing to undertake an early proper examination, in an appropriate setting, and that an early CT scan should have been considered.”

A trust spokesman said: “We would like to offer our deepest sympathies to Mrs Morris’s family. Unfortunately on this occasion there were instances where the trust did not provide the high standard of care our patients expect and deserve.”