Worried patients and visitors have described conditions at a struggling A&E as \u201chopeless\u201d after hospital bosses declared a critical incident amid surging winter illnesses.<\/p>\n
The emergency was triggered at the QEQM in Margate as flu and norovirus cases rise, piling \u201cimmense pressure\u201d on staff and services, as concerned MPs say the hospital has been hit by a \u201cperfect storm\u201d.<\/p>\n
The QEQM in Margate declared a critical incident yesterday, due to “sustained pressures”<\/p>\n
As part of the response, visitors have been barred from some wards to help curb the spread of infection – a move which has reignited calls for a third emergency department in east Kent at Canterbury.<\/p>\n
Today, patients and their loved ones have told KentOnline about their experiences inside the hospital.<\/p>\n
Karen Partner, who has been visiting a 94-year-old friend at QEQM over the past week, said she was alarmed to see no one wearing masks, despite the outbreak of infectious illnesses.<\/p>\n
She also found her elderly friend, who had spent 48 hours in A&E, shivering and unable to reach the water placed beside her bed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels absolutely hopeless in there – it\u2019s gone too far,\u201d Ms Partner said.<\/p>\n
Patients and visitors described the conditions at the A&E at the QEQM in Margate as “hopeless”<\/p>\n
\u201cI found myself saying, \u2018Please, can you help?\u2019 To anybody I could find.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would probably be deemed as being a nuisance, but she deserves better than that. It\u2019s barbaric.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following the announcement that visitors will now only be allowed in critical care and maternity units, Ms Partner fears her friend will no longer be safe at the hospital.<\/p>\n
East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust said a sustained high admission rate, combined with large numbers of patients suffering from winter illnesses and respiratory viruses, led it to declare the critical incident.<\/p>\n
The latest available NHS England data shows there were 31 flu cases across the trust\u2019s hospitals on January 4 \u2013 slightly higher than the same date last year.<\/p>\n
KentOnline has previously revealed how patients were treated in the hospital cafe at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford<\/p>\n
Eight cases of norovirus were also recorded on that day, compared to none on the same date in 2025. These figures are higher than elsewhere in Kent and may have changed significantly over the past nine days.<\/p>\n
One patient, who attended Margate\u2019s emergency department on Thursday, described sitting in a packed waiting room while \u201cwrithing\u201d in pain as staff \u201cjust walked past you\u201d.<\/p>\n
The woman, who asked not to be named, said: \u201cI was being sick every 20 minutes in front of a room full of people.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople just walked past. They just glanced at you. They didn’t offer any assistance and it was hours of being in there.\u201d<\/p>\n
She described seeing whole corridors lined with people, and was \u201cnot really surprised\u201d to hear that the hospital had declared a critical incident.<\/p>\n
East Kent Hospitals declared a critical incident at the QEQM in Margate on Monday<\/p>\n
The Herne Bay resident was diagnosed with kidney stones and discharged after spending 12 hours in A&E.<\/p>\n
She believes reopening an emergency department at the Kent & Canterbury Hospital would ease pressure on Margate.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt definitely needs to open. If we had Canterbury, that\u2019s where we would have gone,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n