A councillor who was treated at Barnet Hospital said his bad experience has made him fear staff will be unable to cope when its emergency ward takes on patients from another hospital.

Councillor Ernie Butler, 60, was taken ill at his home in Borehamwood last month, but has since recovered.

After being placed in an observation area in accident and emergency (A&E) at around 10am, Mr Butler waited until 2am the following morning before he was seen by a consultant.

During this time, Mr Butler said he saw queues of ambulances waiting to bring in patients and people being left for hours without being seen.

He said: “An elderly lady who was in a chair near to me had a badly bruised face and was also waiting to see a doctor. We noticed by her hospital tag she was going to be 100 years old on December 28.

“The department was getting busy when the lady was then told she was going home. After a while, an ambulance driver came to take her away and we noticed she had been sitting in a large wet patch.

“After an hour, a doctor entered the ward and demanded she be brought back. When she returned she was still wet, so I had to ask a nurse to change her.”

After seven hours Mr Butler said he could see people discharging themselves and was about to do the same before he was told a doctor would see him soon.

He was not moved to a ward until the early hours of the next morning.

He added: “Doctors and nurses are there to treat patients and not just reach quotas. It is not a criticism of the staff at all, but if they are under pressure now, what is it going to be like when more people are introduced from Chase Farm? I don’t think it will be able to cope as it cannot seem to cope at times now.

“It is not fair on the staff or the patients. Unless Barnet A & E is made much bigger soon, the future for people needing emergency treatment is looking bleak.”

Chase Farm’s A&E is due to close in 2010, to be replaced by an urgent care centre. Seriously ill patients from the Enfield area will be seen at Barnet or North Middlesex Hospitals.

A spokeswoman for Barnet and Chase Farm NHS Trust said: “All hospitals in London are experiencing high demand for emergency services, as is usual during the winter months.

“Our staff are trained to deal with this while continuing to provide a high standard of care to our patients.”

Stephen Conroy, chief executive of Enfield PCT said: “The increase in patient demand has been a key consideration for us when planning the proposed changes and we have always said no services will be moved from any of the hospitals until safe alternatives are in place.”