'I had to wait 24 hours without food or drink before being admitted to a ward'

George Cameron waited 24 hours at City Hospital in Birmingham before being admitted to a ward after he presented himself at casualty.

Mr Cameron, a 65-year-old former electrician, who suffers from diabetes, went to hospital last September after a toe infection spread up his leg, which swelled up as far as his knee.

"I went in about 1.30pm and was sitting in A&E for about four hours before I saw a triage nurse. She looked at my leg and then moved me to the admissions part of A&E.

"I was waiting there for a long time before they found me a trolley, which I stayed on until about 6am. I was given a bed then, which I was pleased about and then about 11am a porter came along with a wheelchair and took me for an ultrasound test," said Mr Cameron.

"After I had that, the porter forgot about me and I was waiting in the wheelchair until a nurse took me back to the admissions section of A&E.

"I sat there for a while until I went to reception to complain. When I turned round, the wheelchair had been taken for another patient. I was taken back to the admissions section and my bed had gone so I just had to sit and wait again.

"It was two or three o'clock before I was transferred to a ward, which was the poison unit and wasn't the right place. I was there for 24 hours before I had any food or drink."

Mr Cameron, from Smethwick, owed his long wait to a bed-blocking crisis in Birmingham last autumn when scores of beds were occupied by people awaiting approval for social services care packages that would allow them to be looked after in their homes.

"I'm not the only one," he said last night. "It is going on all the time. Every time I have been down there, there are corridors full of trolleys. There are never any beds."

City Hospital said at the time that Mr Cameron's treatment fell short of what patients should expect but staff were doing their best to deliver high-quality care.