Great-grandmother’s leg amputated after four-day wait in hospital corridor

A great-grandmother has had her lower right leg amputated after spending four days in a hospital corridor, her family said.

Geraldine Newing, 78, was admitted to Medway Maritime Hospital, in Kent, with a septic foot infection on March 29 (Good Friday).

But relatives said she spent several days on a trolley before a surgeon finally said urgent action was needed on April 2.

Mrs Newing’s condition was deemed potentially life-threatening and her right leg was amputated from the knee down. She is reportedly still in hospital and on antibiotics.

Her son, dad-of-two Michael Newing, 57, believes his mother may not have needed as much of her leg amputated if she had been seen sooner.

“If someone had looked at her foot properly on Friday, when she first went to hospital, it might not have been so severe,” he said.

“Maybe she would have lost her foot or a few toes or something. The surgeon said that if he hadn’t amputated the leg, my mum wouldn’t be here now.”

Michael said he and his family have been appalled at the treatment his mother, who is diabetic and has had strokes in the past, has received.

The family have now launched a complaint against Medway NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital.

Michael added his mum had developed a blood clot on the lung and a heart problem.

He also claimed that, during the time she was waiting to see a doctor, there were at least 10 other patients on temporary beds with poor washing facilities.

‘I saw person die on corridor’

Michael said: “It’s 2024. People say it’s not that bad, but I saw a person die on that hospital corridor.

“Four days my mum was there and she didn’t have a wash – my mum’s a very clean person.

“It was that bad that she was saying she smelled bad... It was her foot that was smelling, but we couldn’t tell her that.

“When they changed the bandage on her foot, they took it off, cleaned the foot and put the same dirty bandage back on because they didn’t have any more bandages.

“There’s no compassion up there, no dignity. It’s degrading for any elderly person.

“And they’re building more houses in the area, so the hospital’s just not going to cope.”

The family has had a meeting with a chief medical examiner from the hospital to discuss their complaint.

Sarah Vaux, interim chief nursing officer at Medway NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are very sorry that Mrs Newing waited so long in our emergency department.

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