TV Presenter Piers Morgan described A&E in the Royal Sussex as a “scene out of a war zone” after his mother was left in a corridor for hours.

Gabrielle O’Meara, 79, had a heart attack in November and was taken to the hospital in Brighton by ambulance.

Piers Morgan revealed that she was “terrified” and claimed his mother was in an A&E corridor for nearly seven hours.

In an interview on Talk TV, he told Prime Minister Rishi Sunak about her experience.

It comes after an Argus investigation which uncovered how patients were dying in the corridors of the emergency department in the hospital.

“My mother was seen when she got there and then she was put on a trolley in an A&E corridor for nearly seven hours," the 58-year-old said.

“The heart monitor battery ran out and nobody fixed it. At one stage no nurse came for three or four hours, there were between 35 and 40 other people on trolleys in the corridors of A&E.

“Most of them were elderly without people. Old men were begging for bottles to urinate in to. Others were crying in discomfort.

“She said it was a scene out of a war zone. She was terrified after being told that she had a heart attack that no one was putting her into a unit to fix her.

“Once she got up there, the treatment she got was world class. She was fixed within 36 hours.

“My mum has worked all her life and paid her taxes all her life, when she really needed the NHS they eventually came through but she could have died on that trolley. I think that’s shocking.”

Mr Sunak said: “That is a shocking story and I’m really glad that she’s feeling better now. Send her my best. I’m glad she got the treatment she needed.”

The Argus: Piers Morgan speaking to Rishi Sunak on his TV programmePiers Morgan speaking to Rishi Sunak on his TV programme (Image: PA)

The Prime Minister denied that the Conservatives had failed the NHS since 2010, citing the backlog created by the coronavirus pandemic.

“We can’t escape that,” he added.

“When you shut down the country for the best part of two years, that has had an impact on everything since then. And we just have to recognise that reality.”

Dr Andy Heeps, chief operating officer at University Hospitals Sussex, said: “Our staff are working incredibly hard to give their patients the very best care but sadly we all recognise the significant challenges they face and the impact this can have on people needing their support.

“Waiting times in A&E reflect pressures across the whole local health and care system and winter is the busiest time of year. There has been a huge amount of work done to reduce the amount of time patients have to wait and further improvements are still being made.

“We will be opening a new surgical assessment unit in Brighton which we expect to help manage demands on staff more effectively and we continue to work with partners to speed up processes to free up hospital beds once people are well enough to leave.”