A great-grandfather with pneumonia resorted to sleeping on a hospital floor during a 12-hour wait for a trolley in A&E.
Martin Wakely, 75, was rushed to hospital by ambulance after his wife Tracy, 63, became concerned about his breathing.
The former gun dog trainer was left crying due to the pain in his back from being unable to lie down for 12 hours.
He had tried to make himself comfortable lying down across plastic seats in the waiting room, but was told he could not because the chairs were needed by other patients so lay down on the floor instead with his walking stick next to him.
Martin, who has Multiple Sclerosis (ME), was eventually given a trolley, but this was still located in a corridor with no privacy at Medway Maritime Hospital in Kent.
Bosses at Medway NHS Foundation Trust – which runs the hospital – have since apologised to the great-granddad-of-two and granddad-of-four.
But they said they are continuing to see a high number of patients who need to be admitted, which is causing long waits.
Tracy, who has been married to Martin for 23 years, compared the level of care he received to a ‘third-world’ country.
The former council property inspector, from Bobbing, Kent, said: ‘It was heart-breaking seeing someone I love put through it.
‘It’s disgusting that he has worked all his life, paid all his taxes, done everything right and he ends up on the floor with the rubbish.
‘I’ve got nothing against the people who were there because they can only work with what they’ve got but the whole thing is stretched too far.
‘I knew the NHS was in a state but until you’re actually in that situation or you’re there in amongst it you don’t realise how bad it is.
‘It’s like what you imagine a hospital in a third-world country would be like.’
Martin – who is cared for by his wife at home and is virtually bedbound because of his ME – arrived at the hospital at midday on October 27.
Tracy told the paramedics of his condition but he was still sent to an A&E waiting room which had nothing but plastic chairs.
He tried laying down across the chairs when his pain became too much but Tracy said a nurse said he would have to sit up as the seats were needed.
By 6pm she asked how much longer it would be before his blood test results came back but was told he had been wrongfully discharged.
Martin was later seen by a doctor, who prescribed antibiotics for the pneumonia and put him on a nebuliser inside a cubical.
However, he needed an X-ray so they returned to the waiting room and Tracy again asked for a trolley around 8.30pm.
‘He was in so much back pain that he was crying,’ she said.
‘Around 11.30pm he could not stand the pain and opted for the floor so I took him to a quiet place outside X-ray and laid his dressing gown down to make him comfortable.’
At 12.30am, Martin received a bed in the majors’ department but was still in a corridor with no privacy.
At 11am on Tuesday, October 29 – almost 48 hours after he arrived at the hospital – he told Tracy he wanted to go home.
Nurses said they needed the blood results before he could leave although that would be against their advice.
At 3pm, a ‘fuming’ Martin discharged himself.
Tracy said: ‘They said ‘you’ll be back in a couple of days’ but Martin said ‘I won’t, I’ll be dead first’.’
Tracy now plans on lodging a formal complaint with the hospital.
Sarah Vaux, interim chief nursing officer for Medway NHS Foundation Trust, said: ‘We are extremely sorry for Mr Wakely’s experience and for the distress caused to him and his family.
‘As soon as staff were aware Mr Wakely was lying on the floor he was moved on to a trolley for his comfort.
‘Our hospital is very busy as we continue to see a high number of patients in our emergency department who need admitting for treatment.
‘We are sorry that this means some patients wait longer than we would like and that at times patients may have to be moved to an alternative and safe location where we have a range of measures in place to support them.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
