https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-56496036Critically ill casualties were "waiting for hours" to be taken to hospital in the aftermath of the Manchester Arena attack, an inquiry has heard.
Senior paramedic Joanne Hedges was one of the triage officers overseeing patients who were being treated on the concourse of Victoria station nearby.
She arrived at the arena 40 minutes after the blast which killed 22 people.
Ms Hedges told the inquiry she had been informed the foyer, where the bomb exploded, was a restricted "hot zone".
"We were told not to go upstairs [to the Arena foyer] and wait for patients to be brought down," she said.
Ms Hedges said she had been informed the bomb scene would not be safe for most paramedics to work in.
In addition to the 22 people who were killed, hundreds more were injured when suicide bomber Salman Abedi detonated his device at the end of an Ariana Grande concert on 22 May 2017.
Ms Hedges was asked why she thought some 'priority-one' casualties were waiting so long to be taken to hospital.
"I presume at that point it's waiting for the hospitals to be cleared," she told the inquiry.
"It'll be the only reason why any patient would have to wait... it would take a period of time for hospitals to get extra staff in, to cancel the non-urgent patients."
