Angry woman "headbutts" paramedic at Queen Alexandra Hospital when swamped with patients

The Cosham hospital, which declared a critical incident last Wednesday morning due to “extreme pressures on services”, was overwhelmed the previous evening as patients demanding attention flocked to the Emergency Department. A number of ambulances were seen parked up with dozens of people forced to wait several hours to be seen – some as long as 26 hours.

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Those who attended the hospital described the scene as “horrendous”. One person posting on social media said: “We were there and you had to see it to believe it. It (was) horrendous, I'm not joking.” Another person, responding to the message said they “agreed”, while a third added: “Too many people (for the hospital) to cover.”

According to other witnesses, tensions boiled over when a female patient turned angry at events before headbutting a paramedic. “She was going off on one and it took a lot of them to restrain her,” one witness said. The restrained woman was taken to the ground and had “blood all over her face” before she was taken off, another witness said.

Police and QA Hospital said they were unaware of any incident. South Central Ambulance Service has been contacted. The Portsmouth hospital had announced last Wednesday: “Due to extreme pressures on services, we have declared a critical incident. Our hospital and Emergency Department is full with patients. We need every possible space to treat patients with life threatening conditions and injuries.”

The incident happened amid the longest strike in the history of the NHS as junior doctors took part in a six-day walkout which is due to end on Tuesday, January 9.