Emergency patients say they have been left lying on trolleys queuing to get into hospital.

The daughter of one patient left on a trolley for more than 15 hours before being admitted to a ward told The Argus: “It’s like the third world.”

She said she witnessed “between 12 and 15” patients lying on trolleys after being brought in to the Royal Sussex County Hospital’s accident and Emergency department on Monday evening.

After being taken to the hospital by ambulance at 5pm on Monday she said her elderly mother stayed on the trolley in a corridor for more than ten hours before she was seen by a doctor.

She said: “She was stuck on a trolley with all the ambulance men.

“The staff are saying it’s normal.

“She went in a 5pm after she collapsed.

“The ambulance got to the car park and had to wait there for ages before they could even get into the hospital.

“Then when she got out of the car park they just took her through the doors and there was trolley after trolley after trolley, practically touching each other.

“There must have been 12 to 15 people there all night.

“I said to one nurse ‘she’s been here ten hours’. And she just said ‘sorry love, we’ve had people here 20’.

“I was with her all night and exhausted but I wouldn’t leave her there like that. What about people who are on their own? What’s happening to them?”

Last week the hospital had to declare a major incident and divert patients to other hospitals when its IT system crashed. Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust lost access to its email, a number of clinical networks and its staff internet system for five hours.

Declaring a major incident meant patients being brought in by ambulance had to be diverted to neighbouring hospitals instead to give the trust a chance to sort the problem out.

Chief executive Matthew Kershaw said the situation had been “extremely challenging”.

The Argus contacted the hospital for a comment on the situation but received no reply.