North London hospital tells patients in A&E to 'go home unless their condition is life-threatening'

North Middlesex Hospital in Edmonton says it received 450 admissions in just one Friday night shift

People were reported waiting on trolleys in the corridor for several hours (REX Features)

Patients at an A&E in north London have said they were told to “go home unless their condition is life-threatening” over a Tannoy system.

North Middlesex Hospital in Edmonton put out the message advising those waiting to see a doctor to go home if they didn't have “life-threatening” illness because there would be an eight hour wait.

The message said: “We would ask anyone who doesn’t have a life-threatening illness to go home and come back in the morning.”

The announcement - which came at around 11pm - said the wait to see a doctor would be approximately eight hours for adults and six for children - prompting several people to leave.

A spokesman from the hospital confirmed they were forced to put out the request after 450 casualties arrived during one shift on Friday night.

One eyewitness told the Sunday People there were 100 people in the waiting room at one point and more than a dozen patients on trolleys lining the hospital walls because there were not enough cubicles.

Several were forced to wait on the trolleys for several hours.

The spokesman said: “We can confirm it was it was exceptionally busy on Friday at North Middlesex Hospital with 450 cases coming through the door.

“That included a number of major cases of resuscitation and blue-light ambulance cases.

“We were under pressure and we were seeing waits of up to seven hours. We did inform people to come back the next day if their cases weren’t urgent because we were under such pressure.”

He said the hospital had been overwhelmed for a week and that the previous Monday had seen 100 waiting patients, 15 on trolleys in the corridors and 16 ambulances in the car park.

Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said: “The Government has put the NHS under huge strain so overworked staff are struggling to cope and patients are being let down.

“Rather than look for continued conflict with dedicated NHS workers, ministers should be working with them and giving the NHS the cash it needs.”

It comes as the British Medical Association announced it was planning a series of escalating strikes which could see junior doctors staging their first ever “full walkout” after Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced he would “unilaterally” impose a new contract on them.

Junior doctors claim the contracts are dangerous for patients and reacted with fury at new “sample” rotas issued by NHS bosses which show them working for as many as three weekends in a row.