A&E departments in Kent have been left resembling "a war zone" as patients wait days to be admitted to overstretched hospitals.

Last month a person seeking treatment walked into an emergency unit in the county every 23 seconds, and the tidal wave of cases has seen the number of people waiting more than 12 hours to be admitted to a ward soar in recent months.

Patients and their families have told KentOnline how in some cases they have waited for days before a bed has become available as our hospitals face record demand for A&E services.

Sammy French's father Clinton, a 61-year-old builder from Selling, near Faversham, went to the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford suffering from a kidney infection, pneumonia and septicaemia.

He spent six nights in an upright chair waiting for a bed to become available, during which time he became delirious and his family were forced to constantly chase staff to ensure he received the medication he needed.

His son, who lives in Bekesbourne, near Canterbury, said: "It's the admissions side of it that is just horrendous.

"He was there for six days in a chair, no nurse stationed anywhere near him, and he was going through delirious episodes. It was just frightening really.

"There were hundreds of people in there for one or two nurses - it was absolute carnage. There were people all up the corridors, laying on the floor, and just nowhere to turn that you could get any help.

"It is shocking to see how bad it is, and trust me, don't be ill any time soon anywhere near Ashford hospital."

Mr French's experience is an extreme example, but in the last three months, September through November, more than 4,000 patients have endured so-called "corridor waits" of more than 12 hours before admission to a hospital bed.

In the same period last year the figure was 532, and in 2020 just 107.

Last month alone more than 1,300 patients in Kent had to wait for more than 12 hours after the decision was taken to admit them to a ward for treatment.

'There's just not enough frontline staff to care for them...'

East Kent Hospitals accounted for most, with 1,004, while there were 263 lengthy corridor waits at Medway Maritime Hospital.

Meanwhile, a third of all A&E patients in Kent are now waiting more than four hours before they are even seen, with the performance of the Medway site in November the second worst in the south east outside of London.

The son of a woman recently treated at the Gillingham hospital, who wished to remain anonymous, explained how she was forced to go to A&E for a suspected urinary tract infection after failing to access care through other means such as NHS 111 or local clinics.

He described seeing elderly patients on trolleys in corridors, and one woman leaning out of her makeshift bed crying out for something to drink.

"There's just not enough frontline staff to care for them," he said.

"I put that down to the hospital management. They have a high turnover of staff and I believe that is because they don't support their frontline staff."

Antony Foster was one of those who endured lengthy waits at A&E at the William Harvey in November.

The 69-year-old grandfather described the scene as being "like a war zone" with people taking up every possible seat and even space on the floor.

"The only comparison I could make was of a mega busy train station or airport, but so much more tense and worrisome," he said.

"At some point the rooms fell silent when a female voice announced to all that she was head of A&E and that she wanted to be honest with everyone.

"She said that anyone waiting for a blood test would have to wait two-and-a-half hours, and five-and-a-half hours to see a doctor, and if anyone had been promised a bed then they would not get one tonight.

"She was so apologetic and I felt for her. She said that if people wanted to they could leave, but she did not advise it as they would have to go through it all again."

Mr Foster opted to stay at the hospital, despite knowing he would not have a bed for the night, because he needed antibiotics to treat the bladder infection he was suffering with.

He said: "I went back to the sister's station and waited in line to speak to her. I told her with as much honesty and humility and yet gentle assertiveness that I was not leaving, that I was promised a bed, that I obviously would not be getting one and that I was not moaning at all and understood their predicaments, but that I absolutely needed a place, a space on the floor, anywhere where I could lay down and sleep undisturbed.

"She told me sympathetically I could not sleep on the floor. I told her I did not mind and then she took me to an alcove off the corridor and showed me a reclining chair and said I could sleep there.

"I could not fault the medical staff who were kind, attentive and thorough with her examination..."

"I spent the night with several companions, cramped in our little alcove."

Mr Foster, like everyone else who shared their stories, was full of praise for the NHS staff he encountered.

The issues are with a system that appears overstretched and unable to meet the demand being placed upon it.

Gerry Warren, whose 95-year-old mother-in-law had to be taken to A&E at the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother hospital in Margate after a fall at her home in Broadstairs, described the scene as "like something from a third world country".

He said: "I could not fault the medical staff who were kind, attentive and thorough with her examination.

"They just seemed overwhelmed by so many patients.

"It was fortunate that in the end that my mother-in-law did not need to be admitted, because we had heard that no beds were available, and presumably she would have ended up on a trolley in a corridor."

The delays to admitting emergency patients has a knock-on effect on ambulance services, with paramedics carrying casualties often caught in the backlog and held up outside hospitals.

South East Coast Ambulance Service this week declared a critical incident "following a period of more than a week of sustained pressure" on both 999 and 111 services, which it says has "significantly impacted" its ability to respond to patients.

Last month it took an average of nine minutes and 51 seconds to respond to critical 999 calls, against a target of seven minutes.

At the same time, people suffering serious conditions such as strokes were reached in an average of 34 minutes and eight seconds. The target is 18 minutes.

However, just two ambulance trusts nationally performed better, highlighting the relentless pressures faced across the country.

Ambulance workers and nurses are among the public sector workers currently taking or planning to take industrial action over pay and conditions.

Members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) are striking in protest at real-terms pay cuts and what it says is the erosion of patient safety in the increasingly over-stretched NHS.

RCN south east operational manager Adele Longley said: "The whole of the health and care system is under unbearable strain.

"The workforce is dangerously depleted, and this is why nurses are striking across the country..."

"Millions are stuck on waiting lists and thousands waiting more than 12 hours to be admitted to a hospital bed or discharged because of a lack of community or social care.

"We know patients are being put at risk because the workforce is dangerously depleted, and this is why nurses are striking across the country - for patient care and for the future of the NHS.

"It is unprecedented for nurses to strike, but nurses in NHS employers in Kent have voted to take strike action, and they will be out on picket lines next year if the government continues to refuse to negotiate seriously."

A spokesman for NHS Kent and Medway said: "We have robust plans in place and we are ready for a busy winter.

"Health and social care staff will continue to work incredibly hard to provide the best possible care throughout this time and any challenges we face.

"The NHS is here for you. Please help us help you by using the right NHS service, so hospitals and the ambulance service can focus on patients who need urgent help.

"Use NHS 111 online or by phone or visit stopthinkchoose.co.uk for a list of local services, including pharmacies and urgent treatment centres."