The government has stepped in to support East Kent’s crisis-hit hospitals amid mounting concern over severe bed-blocking and unsafe levels of corridor care.

Under-fire trust bosses have faced a series of scandals impacting their emergency departments, and last month were forced to turn a coffee shop at the William Harvey in Ashford into a makeshift ward.

The café was again screened off at the weekend – this time to give privacy to patients being treated in neighbouring corridors.

The move has reignited criticism of the trust and heaped further pressure on its chief executive, Tracey Fletcher.

Ken Rogers, the chair of Concern for Health in East Kent, told KentOnline: “Should things get any worse, it will be disastrous.

“If you get to the point that you can't put patients in the corridor, where do you put them after that? You can't put them in the car park.

“The unhealthy season hasn't even arrived yet, and if this carries on, eventually it will crack and break, and then we'll have problems, and that means patients are going to suffer and patients are going to die.

“Certainly something needs to be done, and I'm not sure Tracey Fletcher is the right person to do it.”

Ashford MP Sojan Joseph (Lab) says the levels of corridor care at the trust – which also runs the QEQM in Margate and Kent and Canterbury Hospital – are “far too high” and must be reduced.

“We must do all we can to get the NHS fit for the future, however, this will not be an immediate fix – it will require hard work,” he said.

“When the first pictures of the café being used as a ward emerged last month, I immediately contacted the senior team at East Kent Hospitals.

“They are aware that this is an unacceptable level of service.”

The trust remains among the worst performing in the country.

In September, 1,172 people faced waits of at least 12 hours for a bed on a ward - up 155 on the same month last year and the fourth highest in England.

It follows a series of KentOnline investigations exposing the scale of East Kent’s care crisis – from patients being treated in the café to others “left to rot” on wards for months after being declared fit to leave.

A spokesperson from East Kent Hospitals said: “Our teams are working hard to see large numbers of patients as quickly as possible in our Emergency Department, however when the department is extremely busy, it can be necessary for some of our patients to wait in the department’s corridor.

“Despite using screens to protect patients’ privacy, we are sorry to anyone who has waited or been cared for in the corridor. This is not the standard of care or experience we want for any of our patients and we are working hard to prevent this.”

The Trust explained that patients who wait in the corridor are clinically assessed and staff monitor and care for them, as part of its full capacity plan.

It’s working to maximise capacity in the hospital, including making more use of same day emergency services, and to minimise delays in discharge for those who are well enough to go home.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson confirmed ministers have now stepped in to help in East Kent, working directly with local NHS leaders to try to ease the pressure.

“We are working closely with local health leaders to ensure hospitals in East Kent have the support they need to manage winter pressures and maintain safe, high-quality care,” they said.

“East Kent hospitals are getting extra support to help free up beds and ease pressure in A&E. This includes maximising same-day emergency care capacity, speeding up hospital discharges, and making sure staff and resources are in the right places to meet demand.

“Since coming into office, we have invested an extra £164 million in East Kent, and helped the trust recruit an extra 100 doctors than they had a year ago.”