A grandmother has told of the “disgraceful” moment she was examined next to a busy A&E’s main entrance - with no screen around her.

Suzanne Baxter had gone to the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford while in excruciating pain, believed to have been caused by a catheter she’d had fitted.

But the emergency department was so packed with other patients she was put on a trolley next to the glass double doors looking out onto the car park.

It meant people were walking to and fro as she had to lift up her top and be “prodded and probed” by the doctor.

Hospital bosses have now apologised to the 58-year-old for the lack of privacy she was afforded.

The incident comes as overstretched hospitals in Kent continue to endure long delays in A&E, with 1,893 patients in May waiting more than 12 hours for a bed on a ward - a 52% increase on last year.

According to the latest available figures, of the so-called ‘trolley waits’, 65% were at sites run by East Kent Hospitals, including the William Harvey, where Mrs Baxter was seen.

It was not until after the doctor had finished examining her stomach that her husband explained that no screens had been put up around her.

“To be treated like this is just awful," she said.

"The doctor came around and said he knew it wasn't a convenient place, but he needed to examine me. I had to pull my top up, and my pull-ups and trousers down.

"I was happy for him to examine me but I didn't realise until afterwards that he never actually put a screen up.”

Mrs Baxter took a picture from where she was being treated - right next to the glass doors where people were walking in and out of A&E.

“The hospital has ruined my life…”

She says there were about five other people on beds in the same hallway pushed up to the side of the walls.

"You could see our car in the car park - it was the main doorway where patients are brought in,” she said.

"You can imagine how I felt. I'd just been prodded, probed and examined there. I had to give blood too and have a urine sample taken - all in a doorway with no screen around me. It's just not right."

Mrs Baxter, from Ashford, says this is not the first time she has had a bad experience at the William Harvey’s emergency department.

In January, she went to A&E after having similar symptoms to those that prompted the most recent visit.

However, Mrs Baxter, who is bed-bound at home and on 10 milligrams of morphine a day, says she was left having to lay on the floor due to no beds being available.

Four years earlier, the grandmother-of-two was turned away from the William Harvey after being sent there by her GP for patient transport to be organised to take her to a London hospital. It meant she was forced to catch the first train into the city the next day.

She has been living in constant pain since 2007 after having controversial surgery - that was once banned by the NHS - to fit a vaginal mesh implant.

Following her most recent experience on June 20, Mrs Baxter contacted the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) to raise her concerns.

“The hospital has ruined my life,” she added.

“The emergency department did contact me and apologise, but it should never have happened in the first place.

“I was in excruciating pain and really scared as I had recently had tests for cancer.

“It does affect your mental health and it’s very draining.”

It was later thought the pain was down to Mrs Baxter’s catheter.

“I can’t have the catheter taken out because I only stand a 10% chance of making it off the table if I have bladder removal surgery,” she added.

“I'm now having trouble breathing so, needless to say, I'm in bits at the moment.”

A spokesperson for East Kent Hospitals said: "We are very sorry for Mrs Baxter's experience in our emergency department and that we did not provide a screen to protect her privacy.

"We have listened to Mrs Baxter's concerns and we will continue to work hard to maintain the privacy and dignity of our patients as much as possible."

East Kent Hospitals, which also runs the QEQM in Margate, has the worst A&E waiting times in the county, with just 53% of patients seen within four hours last month.

This figure rises to more than 70% at Kent’s three other acute trusts.

Last month, KentOnline revealed how a frustrated patient was involved in a stand-off with staff at the William Harvey’s A&E after his friend brought in a mattress for him to lie down on.

The makeshift bed was dragged into the middle of the emergency unit as the man grew tired of waiting to be seen.

In November, KentOnline reported how one exhausted patient had been forced to sleep on the floor of the same hospital’s A&E as he waited 45 hours for a bed.

Three months later we told how an 89-year-old patient endured a “distressing and undignifying” three-day wait to be admitted to a ward at Medway Maritime Hospital.

A major factor behind the long waits is understood to be so-called “bed-blocking” - when patients no longer needing treatment are kept in hospital because there is no suitable place for them to go, such as a care home or specially adapted accommodation.

It means others who need to be admitted to a ward are forced to endure “dehumanising” waits on trolleys in corridors.