The wife of a wheelchair-bound diabetic man from Northfleet said her husband could have died after he was left waiting for six hours when G4S failed to pick him up on time from hospital.

Frances Bramham said she was with staff at King’s College Hospital at around 1.45pm on Wednesday when they booked her 61-year-old husband Raymond’s transport back to his nursing home in Northfleet.

Safe in the knowledge that transport was expected to arrive in the next 45 minutes, the 58-year-old said she headed back to her home in Hextable.

But six hours later she received a phone call from her husband’s care home.

She told News Shopper: “At about 8pm I got a phone call from the nursing home asking if Raymond was ok.

“I said why are you asking that question? They said he’s not back with us.”

Mrs Bramham said she tried to get through to a manager at G4S but with no-one available she was forced to ask about her missing husband by email.

By 4pm the next day, she had still not received a reply from G4S.

News Shopper:

Frances and Raymond Bramham have slammed G4S.

When Raymond arrived back at the home at 10pm, Mrs Bramham said he was distressed, exhausted and his blood sugar level, which should be nine millimoles per litre, had jumped to 32 – close to the level of a diabetic coma.

She said: “I just feel G4S should never have taken this contract if they can’t fulfil it.

“They are putting people’s lives at risk.”

With her husband often unable to feel a raise in blood sugar, she added: “Ray could have died in that transport and the driver wouldn’t have known.”

Mrs Bramham said she had never had any problems with the previous transport provider, and Wednesday’s appointment was the first time with G4S.

She said: “I have never, never left him before.

“This one time, because were told it would be within 30 to 45 minutes, I thought he was in safe hands.”

With Raymond needing to visit King’s up to two or three times a month, and being too immobile to travel by car, she doesn’t know what she will do in the future.

“At the end of the day it shouldn’t have happened,” she said.

“I’m just so angry that these people haven’t even contacted me back “By them not returning my calls, I’m thinking they’re so blasé. Is it going to happen again?”

Managing Director for G4S Public Services, John Shaw, said the delay Mr Bramham experienced was “unacceptable”.

He said: “We are very sorry for the long delay and discomfort Mr Bramham experienced with transport from King’s College Hospital in London on Wednesday and we have apologised to him and his family.

“While the patient transport service has improved considerably in recent days, we are working closely with the NHS to resolve remaining challenges to ensure that we reach patients in good time.

“Unfortunately journey times on Wednesday coming in and out of London on Wednesday were very badly affected by the closure of the M25.

“We anticipated that through the initial period there would be some challenges but I want to reassure patients that the service has already improved substantially and we are confident that patients are starting to see the benefit of more staff and new vehicles.”