East Kent hospital patient care is "horrendous"
Healthcare campaigner calls for "serious investment" after Kent hospital café used as makeshift A&E Ward
A Kent man who spent three days in a hospital corridor says patient experience in East Kent Hospitals has become "ridiculous", as he calls for "serious investment".
It's after the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford used it's café as a makeshift emergency ward on Tuesday.
A&E staff at the hospital decided to screen off the building's Costa to create space for treating patients.
Ken Rogers spent three days in the corridor of a Kent hospital before a consultant "found" him and "got him treatment".
"I spent three days in a corridor, these patients in a coffee lounge will be worried to death.
"It's absolutely horrendous, the worst thing you can possibly do to patients, these situations should never be allowed to happen.
Ken now chairs the Concern for Health group in East Kent, campaigning for better patient care and "serious investment" into East Kent hospitals.
"I've written to Wes Streeting several times asking him to come down to see the situation in East Kent.
Ken has been campaigning for a new hospital in Canterbury for more than 30 years; he says he is "determined to make sure something is done this time".
East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust said the move was due to "significant demand".
Chief Executive Tracey Fletcher says:
"Despite the hard work of our staff, it is sometimes necessary to care for some of our patients in the department’s corridor. We are working hard to stop this.
"However, on Tuesday due to significant demand for emergency services, a small number of patients were temporarily cared for within the coffee area, while we arranged for emergency patients to be diverted to other hospitals within the area.
"Despite the area being screened off to maintain the privacy of patients, we know that this is unacceptable and we are very sorry to patients who have been cared for in this way.
"This will not be allowed to happen again.
The Trust is investing £16.2m to "improve" and "expand" the Same Day Emergency Care Unit, in order to reduce patient waiting times .