A mum has died after waiting on an A&E trolley for two days at a West Lothian hospital.

Ruth Tonks died in Livingston’s St John’s Hospital on Monday, January 2 after developing a sudden chest infection over Christmas.

The pensioner, 86, was left without privacy for two days before a bed was found.

Her son Karl, an advanced nurse practitioner at a GP clinic in Fife, praised hard-working medics toiling in “war zone” conditions and said the pressure they faced on the frontline was worse than ever.

The 51-year-old told STV News: “There were patients everywhere, staff running around struggling.

“It was really busy in there. They actually looked psychologically tired.

“I knew it was going to be a nightmare in there. The only reason she got into the recess area rather than sitting outside in the back of an ambulance was because of how seriously unwell she was.”

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