A mother with a rare autoimmune disease had to call 999 from her hospital bed after staff “silenced the monitor” which was alerting staff that her heart was failing.

Ava Stanley “thought she was going to die” while staying in Medway Maritime Hospital’s emergency department and was placed under safeguarding measures by the ambulance service handler she’d been speaking to on the phone.

The 63-year-old, of Oak Drive in Higham, explained she’d been left “traumatised” by the whole experience.

She said: “I began experiencing chest pain on Monday, September 4.

“As I have mixed connective tissue disease, which means my immune system goes into overdrive and attacks my body’s own tissues, I am used to going to the hospital and knowing when something is wrong.

“Because of this I took medication I had at home to help my symptoms before calling Gravesham Community Hospital.

“I explained all my symptoms and they asked if I could get to a hospital in 15 minutes.”

Ava, who is medically retired, had her husband, 66-year-old Alec, take her to Medway hospital’s emergency department (ED) as she knew it’d be quicker than waiting for an ambulance.

Upon her arrival, she was triaged and had her observations and an ECG taken before being sent to the ED ward. Here she was given a second triage and told to wait for her results and to see a doctor.

When Ava finally saw a specialist she explained to them she still had chest pain and that to her it felt like the type of pain she had experienced before after her cardiologist last performed an angiogram, a type of X-ray used to examine blood vessels, followed by complex heart stent surgery in 2021.

She continued: “The doctor agreed to admit me to the hospital it was then when the problems first started.

“I was given no information and it wasn’t until I went to speak to the head nurse who told me the wait could be up to 40 hours as there were no beds available.”

She had now been at the hospital most the day.

Wanting to sleep, Ava, who also has severe sleep apnea which means her brain forgets to tell her to breath while she’s asleep, had to ask her daughter, Aimi, to bring her CPAP machine to the hospital.

However, as there were no available beds and nowhere for waiting patients to lay down, the 28-year-old had to make her mum a makeshift bed with a wheelchair.

At 3am the next day, Ava was finally given a bed, however, she was unable to sleep as there was no power socket for her to plug her CPAP machine into.

Ashford resident Aimi explained she had to beg to get her mum a sheet after being told by nurses there was a pillow and blanket shortage.

Some 14 hours later, Ava was taken to the Lister Assessment Ward with her husband.

Here she witnessed a very minimal clean of her bed-bay take place – this concerned her because of her autoimmune disease.

Ava, who spent most of her time on the ward having to walk to the nurse desk for assistance, said: “I felt I was on a DIY ward as I was left to fend for myself.

“There were buzzers sounding being left unanswered. I was left in pain and in limbo as no information was being given to me and I realised I would need to be pro-active.”

Aimi felt the same way about her mother’s care and was only given answers about how long her mum would have to wait before being taken to a specialist ward by going there herself.

The brand manager began a complaint process with PALS – the hospital’s patient advice and liaison service – who suggested it would be quicker to do an investigation through them instead of the hospital itself.

At 10pm, after having a hard time getting pain relief from the night nurse, Ava says she put on her CPAP machine, turned it on and tried to sleep.

She recalled: “My heart monitor started to alarm and flash and it showed my heart had gone into an erratic rhythm, going up and down rapidly then reading zero momentarily.

“After about 10 minutes of being unanswered, the monitor would re-set itself and start again.

“This happened four times across 40 minutes and when the ward nurse did eventually come to my bed she just silenced the monitor.”

However, former NHS medical secretary Ava felt something was wrong as she still had chest pain.

She continued: “I turned the machine on again and it alerted twice more and it still went unchecked.

“My heart monitor was sounding and flashing to alert asystole. I didn’t know what this was but I was fearful for my life as my heart had been stopping according to the monitor.”

Ava then Googled what the word meant and discovered it was likely her heart's electrical system had failed and it could cause it to stop pumping entirely.

She said: “Realising it was serious I dialled 999 for immediate help.

“I gave the call handler all my details and told her I was fearing for my life because of what the monitor had been alerting and thought I was going to die.

“The call handler asked if I needed a medic to attend and whether I wanted to be safeguarded, to which I replied I did as I was fearing for my life.”

After this conversation Ava told the night nurse she would hold her responsible should anything happen to her.

She added: “I phoned my husband and told him he needed to come to the hospital immediately and to sue should anything happen.

“It was only then the night nurse responded to me.”

After this incident, the night nurse attempted to take blood from Ava and an ECG before bleeping the on-call doctor.

After being seen by the doctor, she was immediately taken down to Bronte Cardiology Ward.

Ava was finally discharged from the hospital on Sunday, September 10 after undergoing another angiogram.

“The event has left me traumatised but I am fortunate to have survived...”

Medway hospital confirmed a meeting between Ava and chief executive Jayne Black is being set up to discuss her care.

Ms Black said: “We are very sorry if Ms Stanley feels the standard of care given during her visit was not to the high level that we would expect, and we apologise for any distress that may have been caused.

“Our senior nursing staff remain in close contact with her and we will be investigating any concerns that she raises, making sure to feed back the findings with her as soon as we can.”

Ava added: “The event has left me traumatised but I am fortunate to have survived to tell my story.

“This incident further highlights the sorry state of the NHS in Medway and I want to share my story in case something similar happens to someone who does not have their family’s support nor is in a fit enough condition to fight for their health.”