Four-year-old boy forced to sleep on hospital floor due to lack of beds

A four-year-old boy was forced to sleep on a hospital floor as he waited for more than eight hours in A&E. Jack Williment-Barr had suspected pneumonia and was laid down on a coat in Leeds General Infirmary’s emergency department.

“It was chaos,” Jack’s mother Sarah Williment, who took the picture, told the newspaper. “The NHS is in crisis… It was so busy. There are just not enough beds.”

Eventually after 13-and-a-half hours at the hospital, Jack was moved to a bed on a ward. He was later discharged after being diagnosed with Influenza A and tonsillitis.

A photo showing him sleeping on the floor of a clinical treatment room has been widely shared online after it was published by the Yorkshire Evening Post on Sunday.

Full story in The Independent, 8 December 2019