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A pensioner suffering a nose bleed so severe that blood starting coming from her eye was left waiting eight hours in A&E for a bed.
Joyce Green, from Cliftonville, had to construct a makeshift bed out of three chairs and use a Tesco carrier bag as a pillow as she struggled to rest.
She waited from 8pm to 4am to be admitted onto a ward after having an epistaxis, caused by very high blood pressure.
The 72-year-old claims a nurse ignored her pleas for help and she says her horrendous experience has left her questioning how someone could be treated in such an inhuman way.
“I consider myself a healthy and fit person at my age, but even I found it hard to cope with how I was treated,” she said.
“I spent eight hours in the William Harvey’s A&E, sat upright in a chair, cold, anxious, with my nose plugged, looking quite a sight.
“When I tried to ask a nurse for help, it was a choice of discharge yourself or sit down and wait.
“I didn’t want to be discharged, I wanted help.”
Mrs Green’s ordeal started when she was taken to the QEQM in Margate by ambulance at midday on November 18 after paramedics were unable to stem the bleeding from her nose, which had also started coming from her left eye.
“The doctor there packed my nose and l was given medication to reduce my blood pressure,” she said.
“l was then told l would be transferred to Ashford, which has an ear, nose and throat department, where I could have it cauterised.
“Before being given the medication, I felt I was going to faint and the lovely nurses put me on a bed, put me in a hospital gown, took bloods, and other observations.”
'I was cold and anxious and wishing I could just be at home' - Joyce Green
But the grandmother-of-three, of Kilndown Gardens, says as soon as she was transferred to the William Harvey in Ashford, arriving about 8pm, her “horrific” ordeal began.
“After waiting and being seen by a triage nurse, I was finally seen by a lovely doctor two hours later, who told me I needed to be admitted and they were trying to find me a bed,” she said.
“I was told to sit back down in the waiting area, which is very difficult as I recently damaged my coccyx in a fall and sitting for long periods is very painful.
“I was cold and anxious and wishing I could just be at home, but I needed to be treated.”
She claims at midnight, she asked a nurse what was happening but was told to either discharge herself or go back and wait.
“She seemed angry and said finding me a bed was not her job and that I could discharge myself and she would prepare me a form,” said Mrs Green.
“I was horrified at this and went quietly back to my seat.
“About 2am l asked the security guard if I could lie down on a bed in a room which was clearly not being used, but he said no.
“So instead I put three chairs together to make a bed and used my carrier bag as a pillow.
“I may have fallen asleep for a minute or two but at 3am l had a pounding headache, possibly from dehydration.”
She eventually spoke to a “kind” nurse who chased up the bed and at 4.10am - more than eight hours after arriving at Ashford - was admitted to the ward, where she says her care was exceptional.
“When I was there I was told the three vacant beds had been available since 7pm,” she said.
“I was left waiting for almost nine hours, when there were actually beds there.”
Mrs Green says she hopes by sharing her experience, it may stop it happening to others.
A spokesman for East Kent Hospitals said: “We are very sorry Mrs Green waited longer than we would like for a bed.”
