More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
A mother who found herself dragged into a row over NHS funding has been accused of being fake after she posted a picture of her daughter on a drip in a corridor.
Felicity Sims, from Ashford, says she has been trolled on Twitter after sharing a photo of her daughter lying on a makeshift bed in a corridor at William Harvey Hospital yesterday.
She posted it in response to a tweet about a 4-year-old boy who made national news after he was treated on the floor at a hospital in Leeds.
The image was retweeted by Canterbury Labour candidate Rosie Duffield, who said her own mother had received similar treatment.
Ms Sims, has told KentOnline of the 'chaotic' scenes in A&E when her daughter Ella Jackson was admitted to hospital in September.
"The doctor took one look at her and said she had a suspected kidney stone or infection and needed to go straight to the hospital," she said.
"It was her 27th birthday and she was so unwell.
"She arrived at the hospital at midday and I arrived at about 3pm.
"When I arrived she was sitting on the floor so I went and found her a chair.
"At around 6pm they fitted a drip. She was really unwell at this point so we found some chairs and made her a bed."
The mum-of-two has compared the scenes in A&E on that Friday to a "war zone".
"It was very chaotic," she added.
"Everywhere I looked there were people waiting for things, people wanting their family to be seen.
"I felt like the staff were so demoralised. It was like a war zone."
But despite this, she says staff still went out of their way to help her daughter celebrate her birthday.
"One nurse delayed going off shift to get analgesic and make her comfortable", she added.
"She realised from the forms that it was Ella's birthday and she came over with this blow up glove saying 'happy birthday'.
"They went and got a balloon from the shop and attached it to the drip."
After 12 hours of waiting in a corridor, she was finally given a bed.
"This all happened in September - it was before winter.
"There has been lots of comments on Twitter that I'm a bot, that I'm Russian and that it's fake.
"It is way beyond a political issue, this is not me making a political issue. It's a much bigger issue than funding.
"There are so many houses going up in Ashford, but there is only one hospital - no one has thought it through.
"There has been no major expansion of the William Harvey Hospital since 2008 and thousands more patients need treating.
"I think there's a real problem with the NHS and it's depressing listening to the election debate.
"It needs to be reviewed and re-structured but everyone is too afraid to say it."
"I felt like the staff were so demoralised. It was like a war zone..." — Felicity Sims
East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust has since issued an apology, but Ms Sims says she has not been contacted directly.
A hospital spokeswoman said: “We apologise that we were unable to provide a more comfortable environment for Ella to wait for a bed.
"Like hospitals elsewhere in the country, our hospitals can get very busy, caring for a high number of patients.
“If our emergency department becomes full, staff continue to regularly monitor waiting patients’ safety and comfort, and work hard to control any pain and meet their care needs.
“We're asking people to us the most appropriate service if they do need medical help and to keep A&E for emergencies. If you're not sure what to do, call 111 or got to NHS111 online to find the most suitable NHS service.
“The Waitless app also tells you about local minor injury units and their waiting times.”
