The family of a bed-bound woman with Parkinson's disease and dementia have hit out after she was forced to wait 15 hours for hospital transport.

Jeanne Godden, 89, lives with son Steve Godden and daughter-in-law Tracy at their home in Ashley Close, Halfway, where they care for her.

She relies on transport services from G4S to get to appointments, as she needs to be winched into a wheelchair.

But things have come to a head for Tracy, 60, who travels to hospital with her mother-in-law for each appointments.

On December 21, she was taken to Medway Maritime Hospital for emergency treatment at 4am.

The pensioner was discharged at 7am the same day but did not arrive home until about 10pm that evening – a wait of 15 hours.

People can normally expect a wait of no more than four hours.

On January 4, she was due to be picked up from home at 10.30am for a 12.30pm appointment, but G4S transport staff did not arrive until midday, making her late for an appointment endoscopy.

Jeanne was discharged at 3.30pm when staff notified G4S she was ready to return home. She was not picked up until after 8pm.

Tracy said: “They don’t seem to have any sort of priority if somebody’s in a really bad condition.

"They don’t seem to take into account their age and it seems to be on a first-come first-served basis when you get an ambulance.

"My heart sinks every time we have an appointment because check-ups take about 10 minutes but we’re there for hours" - Tracy Godden

“My heart sinks every time we have an appointment because check-ups take about 10 minutes but we’re there for hours.

“I’d like to see more ambulances so they can cut waiting times down and prioritise patients who are in such a state, especially after invasive procedures.

“It’s not the fault of the staff, they do the best with what they’ve got. It seems to be a problem with the way it is run.

“The ambulances aren’t being well maintained. They’re taking ill people to and from the hospital in these ambulances with loose chairs.”

After the trip on January 4, she wrote to the firm complaining about the wait and received an apology for the poor service, but it did not explain how the services could be improved.

G4S Patient Transport Services managing director, Russell Hobbs, said: “We are committed to delivering a good service to all of the patients in our care and regret that this was not the case in this instance.

“The vast majority of our patients arrive on time and are collected promptly after their appointments.

“We take it very seriously when long delays occur, and always look into the causes behind them.”