Recently, I took my elderly mother to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton.

She had to go to the orthopedic department and was subsequently referred to the x-ray department prior to seeing the consultant.

We were in the department more than four hours and, when I booked my mother in, were informed the delays were at least two hours.

Patients from other departments were left on trolleys and wheelchairs.

When I asked the receptionist what was going on, we were told the delays were due to overbooking of orthopedic patients - as many as 20 overbooked by each consultant.

The nurses in orthopedics, who were obviously under stress and at their wits' end, confirmed that there were possibly two or three patients with the same appointment time as my mother.

As we waited it was obvious the x-ray staff could not cope with the demand and the receptionist was getting abuse from patients in front of us.

It is appalling that patients are left crammed in corridors and clinics are overbooked. The receptionists are unable to complete whatever tasks they are meant to be doing resulting in patients becoming abusive.

Surely we do not have to endure this and why does it have to happen?

A patient sitting next to me said her consultant had gone home so she was having to see someone else.

This is an absolute disgrace. Surely if the clinics have been overbooked, the consultants should be made to stay to see their patients?

There were no managers to speak to and, on complaining to x-ray, I was informed this was a regular occurence and I would have to be patient.

The final straw was when a doctor wanted a specific patient to be brought forward because she could not speak English and the hospital trust were having to pay £90 per hour for a translator for her.

-Name and address supplied