Anger at great-grandmother's hospital care

The family of a great-grandmother whose lower leg was amputated after she allegedly spent four days in a hospital corridor described the care she received as "disgusting".

Geraldine Newing, 78, was taken to Medway Maritime Hospital after a blister appeared on her foot.

She ended up having her lower leg amputated, having developed "aggressive sepsis".

A hospital spokesperson said it had apologised to Mrs Newing and is investigating the family's concerns.

Having been admitted on Good Friday, 29 March, it was not until the following Tuesday that she was seen by a doctor, according to her family.

Her son, Michael Newing, said they were told on 2 April she needed to get to the operating theatre "as soon as possible".

The family say the grandmother of four and great-grandmother of three had spent the days in hospital in the corridor with no washing facilities, as first reported by KentOnline.

Mr Newing added: "You take your parents to the hospital thinking they're going to get looked after, and they're not looked after.

"They seem to put all the old people in the corridor, hoping that they're going to die rather than find them a bed.

"That's the way we're all looking at it at the moment."

Doctors told them they would not know how much would need to be amputated until Mrs Newing was in the operating theatre.

But he said: "Our question is, if they had seen her sooner, she might have just lost her toes, or the foot?"

Alison Davis, chief medical officer, and Sarah Vaux, interim chief nursing officer, said in a statement: “We are very sorry that Mrs Newing’s experience fell short of the care we strive to provide every patient, and for the distress this has caused.

“We are in contact with Mrs Newing and her family to investigate and learn from their concerns about her care.”