A PENSIONER suffering with pneumonia took to sleeping in his dressing gown on a hospital floor as he waited 12 hours for a bed.
Martin Wakely’s wife described his ordeal as “disgusting” and added he felt he had no choice but to lie down outside an x-ray room at the Medway Maritime Hospital in Kent.
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She added he resorted to lying down on the floor after it became too painful for him to carry on sitting on a plastic chair.
The Medway NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital, has apologised but said it was continuing to see a high number of patients who needed admitting for treatment.
It added the staff were working to provide the best possible care during a “particularly busy time”.
Martin’s wait for a bed came during a 51-hour visit to the hospital where the 75-year-old from Bobbing, near Sittingbourne, was treated for pneumonia in one of his lungs.
His wife Tracy, with the couple having been married for 23 years, blasted the situation in the department.
The latest NHS figures show that around seven in 100 patients have to wait more than 12 hours for a bed.
Tracy, who is a former council property inspector, compared the level of car Martin had received to that of a “third world country”.
She called for an ambulance on October 27 at 11am after her husband had been struggling to breathe.
They arrived at the hospital at midday and the 63-year-old told the paramedics that the grandad-of-four couldn’t sit down for long periods due to his Multiple Sclerosis (MS).
Due to his condition, Martin is cared for by Tracy and he is virtually bedbound.
Despite Tracy telling the paramedics about his health, they were sent to the waiting room in A&E which only provided chairs.
Some blood tests were taken at 1pm and while they waited for the results, Martin struggled to sit and attempted to lie across the plastic chairs when his back pain became too much.
At around 6pm a nurse told Martin he would have to sit up as the seats were needed, according to Tracy.
She also asked how much longer it would be before the results were back but was told he had been wrongfully discharged.
Tracy told KentOnline: “If I hadn’t been there to ask about it, like some of the other patients who were alone, Martin still might be waiting there now.
“But we were promised to see the next doctor available.”
About an hour later they were seen by a doctor who prescribed antibiotics for Martin’s pneumonia and put him on a nebuliser to help him breathe as he sat inside a cubicle.
He needed an x-ray though and they both returned to the A&E waiting room.
WAITING FOR BED
At around 8.30pm Tracy once again asked for a trolley as she said Martin was crying due to the back pain but was told they would have to wait for one to become available.
Other patients who were also waiting offered their seats so he could lie down and gave him their coats for comfort, Tracy said.
Then at about 11.30pm, Martin couldn’t stand the pain any more and opted to lie on the floor.
Tracey took him to a quiet spot outside x-ray and put his dressing gown down to make him comfortable.
A nurse arrived 30 minutes later saying she now had a trolley available.
After struggling to get her husband up off the floor, Tracy wheeled him to the supposed trolley but found a patient was still on it.
Martin eventually got a bed in the majors’ department at 12.30am but was still in a corridor.
At around 11am on October 29, nearly 48 hours after he arrived at the hospital, Martin told his wife he wanted to go home.
Nurses said they needed the blood results before he could leave.
‘FUMING’
By 3pm Martin was now “fuming,” according to Tracy, and discharged himself.
Tracey said: “They said ‘you’ll be back in a couple of days’ but Martin said ‘I won’t, I’ll be dead first’.
“It was heartbreaking 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.”
Figures from NHS England show that of the 8,221 patients who visited Medway Maritime Hospital’s A&E department in September, 636 waited for a bed for more than 12 hours – that’s more than 7 per cent.
Some 973 patients – more than one in 10 – waited more than four hours for a bed.
Tracy said the conditions at the hospital were poor, saying there was no privacy and as he was in a corridor there was nowhere for him to wash or get changed.
She also said there were people constantly passing by, the lights were on and it was very noisy.
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
Tracy Wakely
Tracy added a man whose head was bleeding had been there “long before us”.
She said: “It’s like what you imagine a hospital in a third-world country would be like. It is disgusting.”
Tracy said they would be making a formal complaint to 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.
“Our staff are working tirelessly to provide the best possible care for patients at all times.
“We encourage patients who have any concerns about their care to contact us directly so that we can address and learn from the issues raised.”
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