Frail patients ‘left sitting in faeces for 50 hours’ and staff ‘crying on the phone for help’ at busy A&E

PA:Press Association

The entrance to the Medway Maritime Hospital in Gillingham, Kent, as the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has issued a formal warning to Medway NHS Foundation Trust after an inspection of the A&E department. … Special measures trust gets warning … 05-03-2014 … Gillingham … UK … Photo credit should read: Gareth Fuller/PA Archive. Unique Reference […][/caption]

FRAIL patients at a Kent hospital were “told to soil themselves” because there was no one available to help them to the toilet, staff have revealed.

At Medway Maritime Hospital in Gillingham, patients faced waits of more than 50 hours without access to basic wash facilities.

Medway Maritime Hospital

Medway Maritime Hospital in Gillingham has been rated ‘requires improvement’[/caption]

Getty

Patients reported seeing staff ‘crying for help’ in the hospital[/caption]

Some were left “sitting in their own faeces,” a Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors were told.

One patient shared: “I had been left sitting in my own faeces all day because there was no one available to help.”

Jayne Black, chief executive of the Medway NHS Foundation Trust which runs the hospital, apologised to patients and said improvements had since been made.

During an inspection in February 2024, the CQC uncovered serious issues in the emergency department.

Inspectors found the department overcrowded, with 14 patients crammed into a resuscitation area meant for just nine people, while another 15 were treated in the corridor.

The department was described as “not suitable for the number of people” it was trying to care for.

A CQC report published on March 5 described patients who said they saw staff “crying on the phone for help”, but “no one seemed to turn up”.

One patient said they were left “sitting on a chair in the corridor for 55 hours,” and when they asked staff if they could shower, they were told they could only wash by splashing themselves with water from the toilet sink.

Inspectors also reported seeing a patient “passing urine into a bottle with no privacy curtains” and others “left in soiled clothing”.

In addition to patients’ distress, staff raised concerns about the way the department is run.

Some described a “poor culture” and said they feared reprisals for speaking out.

Five staff members told inspectors they had been threatened with disciplinary action for raising concerns.

Patients, relatives, and staff had contacted the CQC ahead of the inspection to report “degrading experiences,” particularly for frail, bed-bound patients.

Some staff reported that these patients were told to soil themselves because there weren’t enough staff to assist them.

The CQC report rated the hospital’s emergency department as “requires improvement,” down from its previous “good” rating.

The department was also found to be “inadequate” in terms of safety.

Getty

Patients found their experience at the hospital ‘degrading’[/caption]

However, the hospital was praised for being “good” in terms of leadership.

In response, Jayne apologised to patients, acknowledging that care had fallen “below the standard that everyone should expect.”

She explained that improvements had been made since the inspection, including better waiting times and a new ward for heart and breathing patients, which opened in April 2024.

But Jayne was clear that “there is much more for us to do.”

She added, “We recognise the need to reduce delays for patients waiting to be admitted to a ward, so that every patient receives the high standard of care we aspire to provide.”