Health bosses have recruited extra staff at a hospital after complaints were made about its blood testing service.

Patients, many elderly and who had been fasting all night, complained of waiting for more than two hours to be seen by "overworked" nurses at Sheppey Community Hospital.

Patricia Nicholson arrived at the hospital in Plover Road, Minster, at 10.15am on Wednesday, October 2 to find there were 52 people waiting to be seen before her.

The 78-year-old said: “I don’t know how much longer it’s going to cope like this. The situation is now becoming really out of hand.

“There were two girls, one was full-time and one was part-time, working their socks off.

“We used to have five nurses up there working about 10 to 15 years ago and it was a much smaller catchment area then.”

Mrs Nicholson, who lives in Minster, left the hospital at about 12.45pm and the waiting area was still packed.

“They had to shut off the ticket machine at about 11.30am because they couldn’t guarantee they’d be able to see people before the bloods were sent off at 2pm for testing,” she said. “It really needs looking into.”

James Devine, chief executive of Medway Foundation Trust, which provides the service, said: “We would like to apologise for the issues our patients have been experiencing in accessing the phlebotomy service; we know this is not the level of care our community deserves.

“We are working hard to address these issues, which were caused by unexpected staff absences; we have recruited a number of new staff to the team, and we have existing staff returning from annual leave.

“I am pleased to say that the service has already improved and will continue to do so as our new starters join us.

"We thank our community for their patience and understanding as we get back to a fully staffed service.

“We would also like to thank our staff who have been working incredibly hard to provide safe care to our patients despite these shortages. We are speaking with them daily to ensure that they receive all the support that they require.”

A spokesman for Swale Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), which commissions the service from Medway Foundation Trust, said it welcomed the steps the trust was taking.

He added: “We are assured the trust has done, and continues to do, all it can to provide a service at Sheppey Community Hospital that is safe for both patients and staff.

“We welcome the steps the trust is taking to recruit additional staff and will closely monitor the service over the coming weeks and months to ensure improvements are forthcoming.”

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