The main hospital for residents in north Shropshire is the focus of a “harrowing” documentary.

Channel 4’s Dispatches: Undercover A&E – NHS in Crisis has exposed the “suffering and indignity faced by patients on a daily basis” after an undercover reporter secretly filmed himself working as a trainee healthcare assistant inside the emergency department of the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital for two months.

Footage shows one patient waiting 30 hours in a “fit to sit” area while a suspected stroke sufferer was there for 24 hours, the broadcaster said.

In one clip, an elderly man is forced to urinate in a trolley on the corridor in full view of staff and other patients while in another a woman is left crying in agony for hours, Channel 4 said.

The broadcaster says it has uncovered poor hygiene and infection control practices, a makeshift ward which had no sinks and insufficient plug sockets, and patients being forced to wait up to four-and-a-half hours in ambulance queues.

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There is also a scene supposedly showing ambulance crews leaving their patients without giving hospital staff a proper handover.

Earlier this month, a message sent to Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust staff – seen by Dispatches – warned that urgent and emergency care services were under “significant pressure” due to “high demand”.

NHS England, responding to the documentary, said what was observed “is not commonplace in A&Es across the country and is not acceptable”, while the trust said it intends to fully investigate the claims.

Dr Adrian Boyle, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said: “I don’t think this is unique to this hospital by any stretch of the imagination.

“The things we’ve seen here today are clearly not just confined to winter. It was a year-round crisis in emergency care.

“Spending two days in an emergency department is worse than spending two days in an airport lounge. These are people who are sitting in uncomfortable seats where the lights never go off. There’s constant noise, there’s constant stress. There’s no end in sight.

“People will miss their routine medications. They’ll be next to people who can infect them with other diseases. It’s just not acceptable.”

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In October last year, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspected eight core services provided by the Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust, finding areas of concern in relation to quality and safety, and the responsiveness of urgent and emergency care.

Lorraine Tedeschini, CQC director of operations for the Midlands, said: “The trust’s emergency departments were overcrowded and patients faced lengthy delays.

“We had significant concerns about the oversight of patients waiting to be seen and the ability of staff to identify and quickly act when people’s health was at risk of deteriorating.

“We took enforcement action to make clear to the trust that action must be taken to address those issues and ensure people are not at risk, and we have been monitoring their progress closely.”