A GRANDMOTHER was left on a trolley between the sliding doors at the A&E entrance to Blackb-urn's new super hospital, an inquest was told.

Eleanor Parker, 82, waited outside to be checked into A&E with two other people after suffering a stroke, Gillian Marsh claimed at an inquest into her mother's death.

Mrs Marsh said she accepted the half-hour wait did not contribute to her mother's death the next day but said there was a "total lack of care" when she was admitted.

The case came to light as hospital bosses admitted they were struggling to hit a department waiting target.

East Lancashire Hospitals Trust has pledged to investigate the family's concerns over her care at the Royal Blackburn Hospital in August.

Mrs Marsh, 48, of Brownlow Street, Blackburn, said: "The family feel let down. I don't feel it was a dignified end."

She said her mother, of Willow Trees Drive, Blackburn, was rushed to hospital after falling ill in Blackburn town centre on August 30.

But she told an inquest into her death that instead of being taken straight into A&E the mother of five and grandmother of five was left between the two sliding doors leading to the department.

She said after being admitted, a doctor said Mrs Parker had symptoms of an inner ear infection. In the next three hours alarms sounded on monitoring machines as her pulse rate slowed and her blood pressure fell - but Mrs Marsh told the inquest that staff did not investigate.

She said: "It was only when my mother indicated she thought she had suffered a stroke that the doctor changed his diagnosis."

Mrs Parker died at 5am on August 31.

From reports by staff Mrs Marsh believes her mother suffered a second, more serious stroke, the inquest was told.

Steve Watt, Lancashire head of A&E operations for North West Ambulance Service, said paramedics had to wait at A&E for a "formal clinical handover."

But he said: "Occasions can occur when spikes of activity are experienced and at such times some patients, those deemed to be of low priority, may have to wait longer than those patients who require immediate care."

The hospital trust failed to hit its A&E target, to get 98 per cent of people seen within four hours of being checked in to A&E, for the third month running in October. The trust has missed the target six times in 2006.

Rae Wheatcroft, service manager for A&E, gave her condolences to the family and said they would receive a "full response" from Jo Cubbon, chief executive of East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, after an investigation.

An inquest found Mrs Parker died of a stroke, which coroner Michael Singleton said was a natural cause.