PREVIEW

WORDS BYLINE: Sam Lennon
A woman has told how she was left lying on a hospital floor for more than five hours, vomiting and in agony, as staff walked straight past her.
Juliet Caryl says she was treated “appallingly” at the William Harvey in Ashford after being taken to the busy A&E via ambulance.
The 61-year-old, who is diabetic and relies on insulin, says she knew the NHS was under intense pressure but was shocked by what she describes as a “diabolical” experience.
Latest figures show just 57.9% of patients attending emergency departments at the William Harvey and the QEQM Hospital in Margate were seen within four hours - well below the NHS target of 78%.
Both sites are run by East Kent Hospitals, with bosses saying they were “sorry for Ms Caryl’s experience” and that patients are prioritised “based on clinical need”.
Ms Caryl was taken ill at home in Stanhope, Ashford, early in the morning on Friday, December 12, suffering severe vomiting and abdominal pain.
She arrived at the William Harvey by ambulance just after 7am and was placed in a wheelchair.
But the pain was so intense she could not remain seated and lay down on the floor in an attempt to get some relief.
Over the next five hours, she says, staff repeatedly walked past her without checking on her condition or offering even basic care such as pain relief, food or drink.
A photograph taken by her friend shows a nurse walking straight past Ms Caryl as she lay on the floor.
“I was treated appallingly,” she said. “I didn't get any pain relief or anything else for hours. Staff walked past me. There was no dignity, there was no care.”
Ms Caryl says she briefly managed to get onto an emergency bed in A&E for about five minutes before being asked by two members of staff to get off it.
Yet, she says, during the entire time she was on the floor, the bed was never used by another patient.
“I had a sick bowl full to the rim and they wouldn't even change it. They didn't even offer,” she said.
Her friend, Samantha Sherwood, was with her throughout the ordeal and tried repeatedly to get help.
She said: “She was lying on the floor - there were sick bowls around her and dirty tissues.
“A&E was really packed. All the chairs were taken.
“I found a doctor sitting in a chair just around the corner. I said no one had checked on her.
“I was just told, ‘We’re locating a doctor’.
“When I went over to Juliet, people were offering her tissues and a drink, and these were patients. Staff were just walking past her, stepping over her legs.”
By about 12.30pm, Ms Caryl was seen and taken by wheelchair to an assessment ward. She was eventually diagnosed with a urinary infection and given anti-sickness treatment and antibiotics.
Another friend came to drive Ms Caryl home, but she was still vomiting and in pain. She has been gradually recovering in the days since.
Ms Caryl said: “I feel really angry because I’ve paid towards my National Insurance all my life and there was no help.
“I know from watching TV that the NHS is not in a good state, but that was diabolical. I could have been dying.”
She added there was no apology or explanation afterwards for why she had been left on the floor for so long.
Ms Caryl, who most recently worked as head housekeeper at the Falstaff Hotel in Canterbury, says the experience has left her shaken.
Ms Sherwood added: “Regardless of what your situation is, nobody should be on the floor.”
East Kent’s emergency departments have repeatedly faced extreme pressures. At the William Harvey, even the hospital coffee shop has previously been turned into a makeshift ward.
NHS data shows that 1,105 A&E patients at East Kent Hospitals Trust sites waited more than 12 hours for a bed in November - the seventh highest figure in England.
While that represents a slight improvement on the same period last year, and fewer waits than in October, the figures do not include the current winter flu surge. December’s data will not be published until January.
It comes as East Kent Hospitals Trust’s chief executive, Tracey Fletcher, who earned £245,000 in 2024–25, has taken “unplanned leave”. Chief medical officer Dr Des Holden is acting as CEO in her absence.
Responding to Ms Caryl’s case, the trust’s chief nursing officer Sarah Hayes said: “We recognise that waiting in severe discomfort is distressing and we are sorry for Ms Caryl’s experience.
“Emergency departments prioritise patients based on clinical need after an initial assessment.
“We would encourage Ms Caryl to contact our Patient Advice and Liaison Service so her concerns can be fully reviewed.