To: Jeremy Hunt
More Staff for Kent and Canterbury Hospital.
Please provide more frontline staff at Kent and Canterbury Hospital. Especially, senior doctors, during the night shift.
Why is this important?
My mother was recently taken into Kent and Canterbury Hospital, having suffered chest pains after receiving a flu jab. She had been advised to dial 999, should this be the case. I arrived at the hospital with my father at around 9.30pm, on the evening in question - my mother had been there, since around 8.00pm. We were told that she would need to be seen by a senior doctor, before a decision could be made, as to whether to discharge her, or keep her in over night.
So we waited...
And waited...
And continued to wait, until 6.30am the following morning, before she was finally seen, by 'the senior doctor'. I use single quotes, as we were informed, during the night, that there was just ONE senior doctor to oversee the entire hospital. The reason it took so long for him to reach my mother, was due to an emergency case on one of the wards, along with the number of other people, needing to be seen first.
I am sure you will agree, that this is completely unacceptable and that more frontline staff are needed, in order to avoid situations, such as this. As it happened, my mother wasn't in any danger, but supposing she had have been?
