More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
The number of patients forced to endure long waits in A&E corridors continues to soar as an alarming crisis deepens across Kent.
Worrying new figures show three out of four hospital trusts in the county recorded their worst-ever emergency figures in January amid persistent pressure on services.
A total of 2,839 patients were left waiting at least 12 hours for a bed on a ward, often in corridors. Five years ago, that figure was just five.
It follows what was then a record-breaking month in December, when there were 2,572 so-called ‘trolley waits’.
KentOnline reporter Gerry Warren says a 97-year-old relative of his endured 16 hours in Margate’s A&E department overnight on Monday after suffering a fall at home.
She spent the majority of that time on a trolley in a packed corridor at the QEQM Hospital, before eventually being discharged after an X-ray revealed she had no broken bones.
“The waiting room was absolutely rammed,” said Mr Warren.
“We were told there were 91 people waiting, and more and more were coming in all the time. I’m not sure how many of them really needed to be in an emergency department.
“One woman came in with three family members. The triage nurse asked what was wrong and she said she’d stubbed her toe.
“She was asked on a scale of one to 10 how painful it was and she said it didn’t really hurt at all anymore. You have to question whether that was the right place for her.”
Mr Warren says his relative was among many elderly people left waiting on trolleys in an A&E corridor.
“She has a stiff upper lip, but it must be so distressing for someone who’s almost 100,” he said.
“It was so sad to see so many elderly people in the corridors. It's shameful, really. One woman was covered in dry blood – it was all over her hands and face – but all the time I was there I didn’t see anyone speak with her.
“The staff are overwhelmed – there was a sense of resignation among them. It’s almost like they’ve lost the time for personal care – it was all very business-like, and that’s perhaps understandable given the pressures they’re under.”
Healthcare campaigner Ken Rogers, who previously predicted Kent would endure its worst-ever winter crisis, is disappointed to have been proven right.
“I've got pictures on my phone of people waiting on trolleys over and over and over again,” he said.
“They're treating corridors as wards. That's just not good enough, it's totally unacceptable.
“We just seem to have healthcare in Kent that nobody will look at properly and say ‘this is what we need to do as a solution’ to something that has been going on for too long.
“I feel sorry for all those people out there that are waiting for treatment, scared to go to hospital, and when they get there, they're fobbed off.
“If somebody has got an illness and they can't get a doctor's appointment, it drags on and drags on, then they get worse and then they end up in A&E.
“Of course, they’ll all say they can't move them onto a ward because people are bed-blocking - we've been telling them for years that there aren't enough beds available.”
The struggle of East Kent Hospitals Trust (EKHT) specifically has been well-documented, with January’s performance proving to be no exception.
Its hospitals, including A&E departments at the QEQM and the William Harvey in Ashford, accounted for 1,380 of Kent’s 12-hour waits – the fourth highest in England and its worst ever.
Elsewhere, trusts that have typically managed to avoid the crisis are finding themselves under increasing pressure.
Dartford and Gravesham recorded 449 long corridor waits, while there were 274 in Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells – both record highs.
However, Medway’s total of 756 was down from 954 in the same month last year.
It comes as the number of people attending Kent’s A&E departments dropped slightly to 77,764 across the four trusts. Last month, it was 81,326.
Earlier this week, a report prepared by the coroner’s office revealed how a pensioner died after refusing to go to A&E after a previous bad experience.
Dorothy Reid, 91, was “in discomfort for hours” in the busy emergency department at the QEQM in March last year.
When ambulance crews tried to take her back to the hospital 10 days later, she refused.
Ms Reid died from a blood clot on April 3, but North East Kent Coroner Catherine Wood ruled that she may have lived longer had she returned to A&E when advised.
The daughter of another patient, 89-year-old dementia sufferer Louisa Gilbert, also said she would be reluctant to let her mum go back to the William Harvey Hopsital after the cancer sufferer endured a two-day wait for a bed following a fall in December.
Shelley Ellul said previously: “If she fell again and didn't break anything, I think I would be in two minds on whether to take her back – it was bad for me to see her, but it must be horrendous for her.
“There should be the money to put the NHS right and not have this on the wards.
“I'd read about it, heard about it, but it's only when you actually have to go in that you actually think ‘Oh my God, it is as bad as they say’.
“When you experience it, it's just awful. It’s at breaking point.”
One of the reasons most cited for causing the long waits is ‘bed-blocking’ - where people well enough to be discharged from hospital cannot be for various reasons.
Across Kent’s four hospital trusts in October, 52 people a day were still on wards despite no longer needing inpatient care.
Of these, more than 60% were waiting for a long-term care package to be put in place so they could return home, such as daily visits to help with dressing and feeding. Others could not be discharged until a suitable care home was found for them.
Ashford MP Sojan Joseph, a former mental health nurse, told KentOnline that austerity policies in the last 10 years have “left the NHS on its knees”.
“MPs from across all political parties have been being briefed by East Kent Hospitals,” he said.
“Although the number of patients being offloaded from ambulances is relatively positive and waiting times for elective appointments are lower, delays in discharging have been putting a strain on A&E departments over the winter months.
“This has been an ongoing issue for over a decade. Austerity policies have increased demand and left the NHS on its knees.
“However, my Labour colleagues and I will continue to work with the Department for Health and Social Care and local health care providers, such as the Integrated Care Board, to fix our regional health services.”
The issue is not just a local one, with national figures from NHS England revealing that a record 61,529 emergency patients waited more than 12 hours to be admitted in January - up from 54,207 in December.
Dr Adrian Boyle, the president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said long A&E stays are undignified, uncomfortable and dangerous for patients.
“The highest ever number of patients experiencing stays of 12 hours or more before an inpatient bed can be found for them is nothing short of a catastrophe,” he added.
“In 2023, we calculated that there were almost 14,000 deaths associated with these long stays – and just last month, the ONS again evidenced the serious risk that patients are exposed to when they experience them. We believe that the figures for 2024 will be worse.
“And, as has been so clearly evidenced, these waits are often endured on trolleys in corridors or cupboards, or chairs in waiting rooms. The focus has to shift to addressing these stays.”
Saffron Cordery, interim chief executive of NHS Providers, said this winter has been the “toughest” that many trust leaders can remember.
“Wards are full of thousands of patients ready to be discharged but can’t be, often due to a lack of community NHS or social care capacity,” she added.
“Last week, one in seven beds were filled by these patients.
“This logjam has been a challenge for years. We need a long-term solution. It has a serious knock-on effect, with a record number of patients waiting to be admitted through A&E.”
A spokesperson for NHS Kent and Medway said: “NHS staff have worked extremely hard this winter to provide patients with the best care but were under significant pressure because of a rise in flu.
“This increase meant that, unfortunately, some people waited longer than we would have liked for hospital treatment.
“Getting your flu and Covid vaccinations are important. They protect you and your family, but they also reduce the pressure on NHS services in winter, which is always a busy time of year.”
