Great-grandfather left gasping for breath in agony on hospital floor for 12 hours

A great-grandfather was left gasping for breath on a floor for 12 hours.

Martin Wakely, 75, he was struggling to breathe and was rushed to Medway Maritime Hospital in Kent. He ended up sleeping on top of his dressing grown as his multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnosis means he is unable to sit up for long periods.

Martin was later pneumonia, but was left in tears because of the pain in his back. When he was provided with a trolley, he was left out in the corridor with no privacy.

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The former gun dog trainer’s wife Tracy, 63, described the experienced as something akin to being in a hospital in a “third country”.

“It was heart-breaking seeing someone I love put through it. It's disgusting that he has worked all his life, paid all his taxes, done everything right and he ends up on the floor with the rubbish.

“I've got nothing against the people who were there because they can only work with what they've got but the whole thing is stretched too far. I knew the was in a state but until you're actually in that situation or you're there in amongst it you don't realise how bad it is.”

A furious Martin discharged himself after 51 hours. Medway NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital, apologised for the experience Martin had.

Martin's MS means he is usually bedbound and looked after by his wife. Tracy said she told paramedics this, but they were sent to the A&E waiting room where Martin struggled to sit on the plastic chairs. A nurse told him the chairs were needed as he tried lying down on them, Tracy said.

Martin was later told he had been wrongfully discharged before he was seen by a prescribed him antibiotics for pneumonia and gave him a nebuliser to help him breathe. Later, he needed an X-ray, so the couple returned to the A&E waiting room.

"He was in so much back pain that he was crying," Tracy said. "We were told to be patient and wait for one to become available. Other patients could see he was in pain and offered their seats so he could lay down, and coats for comfort, and showed a sense of camaraderie.

"Around 11.30pm he could not stand the pain and opted for the floor so I took him to a quiet place outside X-ray and laid his dressing gown down to make him comfortable. Half-an-hour later the nurse I had been asking for a trolley came and said she now had one.

"My husband struggled to get up and I struggled to pick him up off the floor. I wheeled him to the supposed trolley but a patient was still on it."

Mr Wakely eventually received a bed, without privacy and in a corridor, at 12:30am on October 29. Paramedics had first seen him at 11am the previous day.

Nurses advised Martin await blood results, but he discharged himself before 3pm after 51 hours in the hospital. Tracy said she would lodge a formal complaint against Medway Maritime Hospital but had not yet done so due to feeling tired after the hospital trip.

Sarah Vaux, interim chief nursing officer for Medway NHS Foundation Trust, said: "We are extremely sorry for Mr Wakely's experience and for the distress caused to him and his family.

"As soon as staff were aware Mr Wakely was lying on the floor he was moved on to a trolley for his comfort. Our hospital is very busy as we continue to see a high number of patients in our Emergency Department who need admitting for treatment.

"We are sorry that this means some patients wait longer than we would like and that at times patients may have to be moved to an alternative and safe location where we have a range of measures in place to support them. 'Our staff are working tirelessly to provide the best possible care for patients at all times.

"We encourage patients who have any concerns about their care to contact us directly so that we can address and learn from the issues raised."

In October, heath secretary Wes Streeting launched a major consultation about the NHS's next decade. In Opposition, the party pledged to build “an NHS fit for the future”, with a greater emphasis on preventing ill-health, shifting care from to community and harnessing the latest to improve care.

Announcing the consultation, Mr Streeting said: “If we want to save the things we love about the NHS, then we have to change it.

“Our 10-year health plan will turn the NHS on its head – transforming it into a neighbourhood health service – powered by cutting-edge technology that helps us stay healthy and out of hospital. We will rebuild the health service around what patients tell us they need.”

Writing in the this month, Mr Streeting said Chancellor ' budget - which increased NHS spending by £22.6 million to return its annual rise to the historic average of around 4% - is part of a “Gladiatorial effort” to save our NHS.