A SWINDON woman had to endure three days on a hospital trolley before being found a bed at Princess Margaret Hospital.

Mother of three, Deborah Minns, 34, was admitted to the hospital suffering from septicaemia and pneumonia.

The former quality control worker from Gorse Hill spent a night in a proper hospital bed in Martinsell, an emergency ward.

But the following day she was transferred to Cricklade Ward, where staff were unable to find her a bed and she had to be cared for on a hospital trolley in an adjoining corridor.

She said: "I was not well at all and I had a drip running into my arm supplying me with antibiotics.

"The problem with being put on a trolley is not that they are particularly uncomfortable to lie on, but that they are just so thin.

"Because I was suffering from pneumonia, I kept changing temperature and had to move about.

"That is not an easy thing to do on a thin trolley like that.

"I had to spend three days up there on the trolley and it was hellish really.

"I have three children aged six, three and one but they could not visit me because there was not enough room for them to come in."

Mrs Minns, who carries out voluntary work for the Salvation Army, said she was able to leave her trolley for short periods, but generally felt so ill that she needed to spend most of her time confined to the trolley.

"I recognise that it was not the nurses' fault. In fact they were really good to me.

"They were so apologetic and they were very attentive, but they must get a lot of complaints from patients. It is not their fault at all but they have to take it.

"The morale of staff on Cricklade Ward seemed to be very low. I felt sorry for them.

"It scares me that other members of my family could have to go through the same experience. Something really needs to be done to sort things out."

She added that she would be contacting her MP Michael Wills to highlight the issue.

Princess Margaret Hospital spokesman Chris Birdsall said: "We deeply regret that Mrs Minns had to spend any time on a trolley let alone three days.

"We have seen a steep increase in the number of emergency admissions in recent months and obviously that puts a lot of pressure on beds.

"Although far from ideal it is much better that we admit patients and give them the care and treatment that they need rather than send them to another hospital.

"Mrs Minns' comments about our staff show that even in less than ideal circumstances we do strive to provide the best standards of care that we can."