Chief executive Tracey Fletcher said a ‘small number of patients' were temporarily cared for within the coffee areas on Tuesday due to ‘significant demand'.

Fletcher added: ‘Our priority is to see all our patients as quickly and safely as possible in our emergency department. Despite the hard work of our staff, it is sometimes necessary to care for some of our patients in the department's corridor. We are working hard to stop this.

‘Despite the area being screened off to maintain the privacy of patients, we know that this is unacceptable and we are very sorry to patients who have been cared for in this way. This will not be allowed to happen again.

‘We are working hard to reduce the time patients wait in our emergency department and are investing £16.2m to improve and expand the same day emergency care unit and ensure that our patients receive the care and experience they deserve.'

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said the incident was ‘unacceptable' and the Government expected the hospital to ‘take urgent action to address this'.