'It was heart-breaking': 91 year old man left in Medway Hospital corridor for six hours
His daughter, Marion Woodfield, told us what happened
Last updated 23rd Jan 2025
A woman, whose 91-year-old father spent six hours in a corridor while at Medway Hospital, has told us it was 'heart breaking' to witness.
On December 3, Ian Knox was taken into a hospital by ambulance, he then went through to the emergency department where he spent two days.
However, at one point during this, Ian was removed from his ward and placed in a corridor next to the entry and exit door for the accident and emergency department.
He remained their for six hours and his daughter, Marion Woodfield said: "It heartbreaking, my dad is 91 years old and he didn't deserve to be treated like that.
"I understand there are illnesses and other patients just as important but to be put there I just think was unacceptable... the doors were open for 45 or 50 minutes.
"He shouldn't have been there in the first place but at least a corridor with closed doors would have been warmer and slightly more acceptable but where he was just disgusting.
"And, I would invite those in charge to go and spend 24 hours laying on a hospital bed, being placed in these areas, which aren't acceptable, all while being ignored - how would that make them feel?"
It follows on from last week - when anonymous testimonies from nurses across the South East were released - with some describing how patients have died and had miscarriages while in a corridor.
And Marion did admit that none of this was the nurses fault, she said: "They were fantastic, they were running around, doing the best they could with the situation they were in so I can't thank them enough."
Sarah Vaux, Interim Chief Nursing Officer for Medway NHS Foundation Trust, said: ""We are sorry that Mr Knox spent so long in our Emergency Department.
"Our hospital is very busy as we continue to see a high number of patients who need to be admitted to a ward for ongoing care and treatment – unfortunately this means some patients wait longer than we would like.
‘’Our staff listened to and acted on the concerns raised by Mr Knox while he was waiting for a bed to become available on a ward. Staff remain dedicated to acting on patient feedback so that we can improve and provide the best possible care for our local community during the busy winter period."