Twelve-hour corridor waits at a Kent hospitals trust are now the third worst in England as hundreds of patients continue to endure lengthy delays.

Alarming new figures show East Kent Hospitals (EKH), which runs A&E departments in Margate and Ashford, is struggling with the persistent strain on its services.

Last month, 1,085 emergency patients were left waiting half a day or more to be admitted to a ward, with only two trusts nationally - in Birmingham and Sussex - reporting higher numbers.

The county’s other three trusts had a combined 845 waits, with Medway recording 661, Dartford and Gravesham 149 and Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells just 35.

The continued troubles in East Kent follow a series of horror stories that have emerged from the flailing trust over the past year, with some patients being forced to sleep on the floor and wait almost two days to finally be given a bed.

One such case was that of 19-year-old student Daniel Hebditch, who was left in a chair at the William Harvey in Ashford for more than 18 hours in March after going in with acute pain, a fever and stomach issues.

His father, Tim, told KentOnline this week he was “not surprised” to learn of EKH’s poor rank nationally, and has urged bosses to look at other trusts in the county for solutions.

The healthcare worker of 30 years said: “It’s far from acceptable - it was an utterly diabolical service.

“They would have had to have done something pretty amazing in the last few months for their position to have improved.

“I know there are other hospitals in Kent that are doing better so it’s not just a sort of Kent thing. It does seem to be about that trust.

“I know they have financial issues and that can’t be to the detriment of patient care, but it seems that it is.

“If you approach the workload in the right way and with the right communications to patients, you can have a better service.

“Every hospital is going to have difficulties, but not to the extent that East Kent has.”

The number of 12-hour waits at East Kent Hospitals in July was 34% up on the same month last year, and has been above 1,000 since November.

In stark contrast, just four patients waited half a day to be admitted to the trust’s care in July 2021. In July 2020, the number stood at zero.

A major factor in the rise is so-called “bed-blocking” - when patients no longer needing treatment are kept in hospital because there is no suitable place for them to go, such as a care home or specially adapted accommodation.

It means others who need to be admitted to a ward are forced to endure long waits and “corridor care” described as “dehumanising” by leading medics.

KentOnline revealed in June how a frustrated patient was involved in a stand-off with staff at the William Harvey’s A&E after his friend brought in a mattress for him to lie down on.

The makeshift bed was dragged into the middle of the emergency unit as the man grew tired of waiting to be seen.

And when grandmother Suzanne Baxter visited the Ashford hospital a month later, it was so packed with other patients she was put on a trolley next to the glass double doors looking out onto the car park and examined within metres of the A&E entrance.

Hospital bosses apologised to the 58-year-old for the lack of privacy she was afforded, but she told KentOnline the experience left her fearing future hospital visits.

Mrs Baxter said: “I don’t like going in. I really hate it because I’m in pain, and they’re not doing nothing about it. I just get really angry.

“Patients need to be listened to. If a patient says ‘I can’t sit’, then they should ask why you can’t sit.

“A bit more compassion wouldn’t go amiss.”

New Ashford MP Sojan Joseph (Lab) confirmed he and other East Kent MPs had met last week with Tracey Fletcher, the CEO of EKH, to be briefed about the ongoing issues at what is one of England’s largest trusts.

Mr Joseph, a former NHS mental health worker, told KentOnline: “The corridor care and the A&E has been an ongoing problem for some time and I agree with the public who are fearful of what happens - this needs to be resolved.

“The pay settlement has been agreed with the junior doctors so hopefully there will not be any more strikes.

“It’s like a ripple effect happens on the A&Es, where the people who are stuck in the hospital ward can have an impact on backlog in the A&E because people are not able to move into the ward.

“People who are ready to leave are stuck in the hospital.

“One of the issues in East Kent is this is one of the biggest trusts in the country and we do have a huge issue with retention and recruitment of staff in this side of the country. People will be close to London and staff look for better pay and will go and work in London.

“I don’t think we need an external intervention. What we need is to get the staff, recruit the staff, retain them and look into some of the issues about people who are stuck in the hospitals and need to move on.”

Fellow Labour MP Rosie Duffield, who represents Canterbury, described the situation as “deeply worrying”.

“It’s completely unacceptable that more than 1,000 people have had to endure waits of over 12 hours,” she said.

“These figures highlight the need for action as an urgent priority. NHS services need investment to boost capacity and recruit and retain staff to help drive down waiting times.

“Too often, A&E has become the ‘front door’ for accessing the NHS simply because people have been unable to get treatment elsewhere, such as through their GP. Better integration between health and care services should help to reduce pressure on A&E.

“I’m committed to fighting for our local NHS services to ensure that nobody has to endure such prolonged and unacceptable waits.”

Professor Sir Stephen Powis, the NHS’s national medical director, says A&E staff remain under significant pressure and confirmed the health service is facing “what could be its busiest summer ever”.

Last month 26,026 patients attended urgent and emergency care departments in East Kent - 2,337 more than in July last year.

Figures show 54.7% of those arriving at A&E were seen within four hours –the lowest in Kent, with Medway recording 68.5%, Dartford and Gravesham 67% and Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells 80.7%.

EKH says its performance is improving, with 12-hour corridor waits falling two months in a row, but admits there is “much more” it can do to tackle the ongoing issues.

A spokesperson said: “More than three quarters of all patients in our urgent and emergency care departments are currently being seen, treated and discharged or admitted within four hours.

“This is despite seeing a rise in the number of patients requiring our care, many of whom need to be admitted.

“We also have people on the wards who need longer to recover to be well enough to go home, and others who are waiting for care packages and other arrangements to be finalised before it is safe for them to be discharged.

“These factors can lead to people waiting longer than we would want in our emergency departments, but our dedicated staff work incredibly hard to provide the best possible care and regularly review people who are waiting.

“Nationally there has also been a rise in the number of patients spending more than 12 hours in emergency departments.

“In East Kent, while we have seen this reduce each month for the last two months, there is much more we need to do to make sure patients do not have extended waits.

“For example, we are increasing our capacity to see and treat patients in our Same Day Emergency Care service and supporting patients to remain at home rather than be admitted to A&E.”