Trust Apologises For Treating A&e Patients In Cafe

A infirmary leader has apologised aft a Kent emergency section resorted to utilizing its cafe arsenic a makeshift ward.

A&E unit astatine William Harvey Hospital successful Ashford decided to surface disconnected nan building's cafe connected Tuesday to create abstraction for treating patients.

East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust said nan move was owed to "significant demand".

Trust main executive Tracey Fletcher said: "We cognize this is unacceptable and we are very sorry to patients who person been cared for successful this way."

A "small number" of patients were looked aft successful nan cafe until emergency patients could beryllium moved to different wards successful nan hospital, nan spot said.

Labour MP for Ashford Sojan Joseph said it was "not acceptable" to usage corridors to attraction for patients but said unit worked "incredibly difficult nether very difficult circumstances caused by a decade and a half of cuts".

He said: "It's thing I saw location during my clip arsenic a nurse. However, elder guidance crossed East Kent Hospitals must do much to measurement up and amended standards crossed each levels of care."

Ms Fletcher said it was "sometimes necessary" to dainty patients successful corridors contempt staff's efforts, but that usage of nan cafe, first reported by Kent Online, "will not beryllium allowed to hap again".

East Kent Hospitals ranked 101 retired of 134 successful a convention array of trusts' capacity that NHS England published earlier this month.