A 93-year-old pensioner was left lying on a hospital trolley for three days before being moved to a ward. Ada Moore was taken to the Kent and Canterbury Hospital on Saturday evening suffering from gastroenteritis - and stayed in a corridor in A&E until being moved to a ward on Tuesday morning.

The pensioner, from Herne Bay, was among a number of people caught up in the chaos at the hospital during the busiest weekend in the A&E department for a year. Angry relatives have told of patients being put on beds in a cupboard and in the maternity department.

At one point over the weekend, more than 30 people were being nursed in beds or trolleys in corridors and makeshift wards off the casualty department. And last week, K&C’s children’s ward was closed for admissions for a while because of staff shortages.

One 86-year-old who spent all day Monday in the A&E department after suffering a mini stroke, told his niece’s partner: “I would never have called the doctor if I’d have known I’d end up here.”

Maureen Lunney, of Seafield Road, Whitstable, went to her uncle’s home in Graveney on Sunday after he had a mini stroke. “The doctor said there was no point in sending my uncle to hospital because she already knew there were no spare beds in east Kent,” Ms Lunney said. “It is disgusting.”

On Monday, her uncle went to K&C for tests, accompanied by Ms Lunney’s partner. “My partner said it was awful,” Ms Lunney said. “There was nowhere to put anyone and tests were being done in the waiting room.”

Another woman, who did not wish to be identified, said her husband spent 61 hours in a corridor at K&C at the weekend after suffering a stroke.

“The conditions are deplorable,” she said. “There is no privacy, visitors and children walk past all the time - it is so degrading.”

A spokeswoman from the East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust said it was extremely sorry for the distress caused to patients. She added that the A&E department was being refurbished to create more space for patients and provide a separate area to treat children. This will help with the rate at which adults are seen.

“We are planning to raise £102 million to spend on improvements across the trust,” she said.