A woman who spent “nine days from hell” in a hospital says she fears for patients who are being treated there.

Gemma Wakley, 60, arrived at the Medway Maritime Hospital's MedOCC GP service at 10.30am on Sunday, December 30, after experiencing weakness in her legs.

She was transferred to the emergency department at the Gillingham site more than 15 hours later and placed in a cubicle.

Some 30 hours after arriving, she was moved to Arethusa and then to Will Adams ward.

Last Tuesday she was back at home without any medication or discharge papers.

She described conditions at the hospital during her stay as “like the third world”.

“A member of staff came up to me and asked if I’d be willing to leave as there were 130 people in A&E and one woman who was 86 had been waiting for almost 24 hours. I was more than happy to go at that point,” she said.

'It was nine days from hell and I’m just incredibly worried about anyone who is being treated there.' — Gemma Wakley

The Asda employee, of Sadlers Close, Walderslade, said people were crying out in pain and human waste was not cleaned from a toilet during her time at Will Adams.

She added at one point she actually chased the cleaner down the ward having got so fed up.

After extensive tests doctors are still stumped as to what might be causing her condition and think it is neurological.

It was only when she returned to the hospital for further scans last Thursday that she inquired about and was given a discharge form.

She added: “I’ve made a formal complaint. It was nine days from hell and I’m just incredibly worried about anyone who is being treated there.

“I’ve been to plenty of hospitals but this was by far my worst experience. It was just like I was in the third world.” Another patient who had waited eight hours for a prescription and 15 to be seen by a doctor while surrounded by people “crying in pain and vomiting” said the hospital was “like a war zone”.

Others said elderly relatives and people with cancer had waited for up to 18 hours while sat on waiting room chairs.

The patients’ comments came as Medway NHS Foundation Trust placed the Windmill Road hospital on the highest level of alert, Opel 4.

This meant bed capacity had been reached and some routine operations were cancelled.

The trust said the majority of patients in its Emergency Department had been seen within four hours but acknowledged there were some exceptions where longer waits had been experienced due to specialist beds being needed.

It denied reports that only one doctor was on duty in the department last Wednesday, saying it was fully staffed.

Opel, or Operational Pressures Elevation Levels, range from one, meaning normal, to four.

Level four means the hospital is “unable to deliver comprehensive care” and there’s an increased chance of care and safety being compromised.

The Trust downgraded the level of alert to Opel 3 yesterday (Monday).

It was hoped the opening of the multi-million pound Emergency Department in November would ease the strain on services streaming patients according to their condition.

Trust chief executive James Devine said: “We are taking the issues very seriously.

“We have spoken to Mrs Wakley to sincerely apologise for the poor experience she had with us.

“But I would like to reassure our community this is not typical of the care that we provide.

“This is the busiest time of year for us and, while our staff are working flat out to manage the significant demand for our services, we are ensuring that we are delivering the best care that we can to our patients.

“We plan ahead for winter and, when demand for our services increases, our plans ensure not only that we prioritise our most unwell patients but that we also implement additional actions to help get patients home as soon as they are well enough and free up beds on our wards.

“We are continuing to see the majority of those coming to our Emergency Department within four hours.

“While a small number of our patients have experienced longer waits for a specialist bed to be found for them on our wards, they remain under the care of our doctors and nurses in our Emergency Department and ambulatory units throughout that time.

“All of our wards are cleaned multiple times a day, including the toilets, and we are investigating why the toilet on the ward Mrs Wakley was staying on was not cleaned satisfactorily.

“We have also, as we agreed with Mrs Wakley when she was discharged, arranged for her medication to be couriered to her home and this is now with her.”