September 2007: The hospital accident and medical assessment units are merged.

December 2007: Long delays start to build up, with the first patients coming forward to tell how they were kept waiting on trolleys in corridors for hours.

June 2008: GPs set up their own £600,000 department near A&E to take pressure off the unit.

December 2008: Hospital chief operating officer Val Doyle quits six months after offering to resign if there was no end to delays. External consultants ATOS drafted in to seek solutions.

January 2009: June Harriman, aged 52, dies of a brain aneurysm two days after she was forced to undergo a nine-hour wait.

March 2009: Three incidents putting patients at risk while they were stuck in the queues are investigated by experts.

April 2009: New ward opens to ease pressure and a field hospital is launched in Hanley to treat drunks normally ending up in A&E.