A pregnant woman waited nearly seven hours to see doctors in the William Harvey Hospital’s A&E department fearing she had a dangerous blood clot.

Mrs Hayley Revell, 34, from Dover, was suffering sharp pains in her left shoulder, which her midwife said could be pre-eclampsia and insisted she must get it checked at hospital because it is a dangerous condition.

Hayley and husband Simon drove to Ashford on Sunday at 5.45pm, where they were told it would be 30 minutes before they were assessed and a further five hours before they were treated.

Mr Revell, also 34, said: “It was so busy in the waiting room. There was no working air conditioning, just two plug in fans that didn’t do nearly enough to relieve the heat.”

Luckily, the couple, who already have two-year-old daughter Ruby, were told Hayley’s condition probably wasn’t a blood clot and they were sent to the minor injuries unit to see if it was a muscular problem.

Mr Revell added: “It was pretty chaotic in that waiting room too. People were asleep on the chairs where they’d been waiting so long, standing up or standing outside.

“The most frustrating part is they don’t give you any information. So you’re sat waiting for four, five hours and don’t know what’s going on but the poor receptionist can’t tell you either, so you have to feel sorry for them.

“We had already been waiting five hours when we were told there were still 21 people in front of us.

“Everyone was quite frustrated. One young bloke had a metal foreign object in his eye and had been waiting so long he said he’d have to go straight to work.

“It was definitely chaotic and my wife was in even more pain when we left from sitting in the cramped conditions.”

After waiting in the minor injuries unit for another hour, the couple told staff they were going to leave but were warned it was strongly advised they stayed.

Mr Revell said they were even told they would have to sign a form if they left.

He added: “Shortly after this a lady introduced herself as the department manager and informed us the wait was seven and a half hours from check in time.

“She said it was due to a flood of patients coming in but shouldn’t they be prepared for that?

“I dread to think what they would do in say a natural disaster or major motorway incident.

“We have had problems with A&E waiting times before but, when you are talking seven or eight hour waits, with people sleeping in their cars or on the chairs with no explanation, that’s just disgusting.”

Mrs Revell, who has had previous problems with pregnancies, was finally seen at 12.30am where she was reassured it probably wasn’t a blood clot but given no other explanation for the pain.

An East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust (EKHUFT) Trust spokesman Steve James said: “Sunday, August 7, was a particularly busy day for A&E, with 235 patients being attended to within a 24-hour period. And 151 of these were attended to in the major treatment area.

“These numbers, along with unexpected staff shortages, applied pressure to our waiting times. But our priority is patient safety and we have to ensure that patients receive appropriate care.

“Patients can help us to ease waiting times by using A&E appropriately.

“Some patients presented with toothache, earache and excess alcohol consumption. Please remember that A&E is for accidents and life-threatening emergencies.”