A 76-year-old man spent 27 hours waiting in a wheelchair in A&E, only to be discharged because they didn't have a bed for him.

Medway Maritime Hospital has apologised after the ordeal suffered by grandfather-of-six Melvin Terry, a retired design office manager who suffers from a heart condition.

Melvin's son Robert spoke to LBC radio about how his father was taken to Medway's A&E department on Sunday, August 7, experiencing chest pains and shortness of breath – both symptoms which could indicate a heart attack.

Although Melvin was told he would be taken to the cardiac ward and given a five-day course of treatment, he was still in A&E 27 hours later, and Robert said he was horrified when he turned up the next day to find his dad in the same place he'd left him in A&E.

"You could see he was really shaken up, he'd not slept, he'd not really eaten, he'd hardly drunk anything because he didn't want to get up and go to the toilet," said Robert. "It was really traumatic for him."

He said doctors told his father later afternoon that "You need to be in a bed on a ward but we physically don't have anywhere to put you so we're just going to have to discharge you."

And while Robert says the NHS staffing crisis is to blame, rather than staff themselves, he added: "I was fairly shocked and horrified they could leave him like that. To me, chest pains and shortness of breath could be a sign of a heart attack."

"But I'm not trying to have a go at the NHS because they are doing what they can with what they've got.

“That is the problem, I just don't think they have enough time and resource."

Jayne Black, Medway NHS Foundation Trust Chief Executive, said: “This was one of our busiest days in recent history, and we apologise to Mr Terry for the delay and any distress this caused him, and invite him to contact us so we can investigate his concerns.

“Our hard-working staff are facing unprecedented demand across NHS services including emergency care, and are also contending with issues discharging patients who are ready to be back in the community; this leads to challenges freeing up beds in the hospital.

"However it remains important that anyone needing emergency care dials 999, and the public use 111 online and local pharmacies for other health issues and advice.”

Robert and Melvin's story comes amidst reports that the NHS is undergoing a crisis, with patients experiencing increasingly lengthy waiting times.

The latest figures show more than 1,000 patients a day had to wait more than 12 hours in A&E in July, while in the same month ambulance crews were reportedly waiting up to 20 hours to offload patients in A&E.