A mum-of-four who endured cancer chemotherapy after being misdiagnosed with the disease says a hospital trust “has not learned from its mistakes”.
The Whitstable resident says she has “absolutely no faith in doctors” after being told by Kent and Canterbury Hospital staff she could “drop down dead” at any moment.
Also in today's podcast, furious swimmers say a “dirty” leisure centre that employs three cleaners must take on more staff as the site has “never looked so bad”.
Bosses at Ashford’s multimillion-pound Stour Centre stress they are “committed to maintaining excellent standards” - but visitors say hygiene issues are putting them off using the facility.
A decision is set to be made on plans to build an 8,000-seater stadium at the heart of a new waterfront neighbourhood - almost two years after they were submitted.
The scheme, known as Northfleet Harbourside, will go before a planning committee next week for the first time
A deaf man almost had surgery to remove his testicle without knowing the risks after a hospital blunder saw him seen by doctors without an interpreter.
Medics even wrongly believed the patient had “begged” to have the surgery as he was forced to rely on lip-reading and a pen and paper to communicate.
And ahead of the final game of the season you can hear from the Gillingham boss who says there's still plenty to play for.
The Gills' hopes of the play-offs were dashed last week with a loss, but they're hoping to end the season on a high as they host Doncaster.
Can't online news news you can trust. This is the Kent online podcast. Kate Faulkner. Hello. Happy Friday. Hope you're okay. And thank you for downloading today's podcast on April 26th. On today's podcast, you can hear about proposals to introduce a tourist tax to part of Kent. And we've also caught up with the Jill's boss ahead of the final game of the league two season. But first, we'll take a look at our top story, a witzedable mum who was given chemotherapy after being diagnosed with a rare cancer says lessons still haven't been learned. Janice Johnson became ill from the treatment and her weight dropped to seven stone before specialist doctors realized she didn't have the disease. Back in 2017, I started feeling quite unwell and already had this blood condition called polyphysemia. And they did sort of further tests and sent my blood up to Kings. And it came back that it was the, the cancer version of polyphysemia, polyphysemia vera. And they started me on oral chemotherapy and blood draining, benisections every fortnight. And this went on for probably about 16, 17 months. But I wasn't feeling any better. And there was no change in my blood counts really. So I started questioning the chemo was on. And they decided to refer me up to, um, guys in London to see the top hematologist up there. And also went up there and literally one of the first things she said to me was, I don't think you've got blood cancer at all. She said, you know, she asked if they'd done the initial tests of her, like a bone marrow boxy scan on my spleen, which had none of those done at all. So the first thing she ordered was me to have those done. And that proved about two months it took to get the results back and it come back that also didn't have cancer. That must have been a huge shock because you'd already gone through mentally having to deal with that and starting all of the treatment and then to be told, actually, no, that's not what you've got at all. How did you feel? Where's that? Initially, when she told me in the room, um, she said, Oh, you know, you haven't, you haven't got cancer. And like, you know, my first book in the initial book was like relief, but then it was just this feeling of, I was so angry, you know, that they put me through that for like nearly two years. You know, I had to give up my job. You know, I had to be like on, on benefits. I had no life at all. And the fact that they were telling me that if I stopped taking this chemo, I could drop down dead of a heart attack or blood caught a stroke at any time. Obviously chemotherapy is there to, to make people better, but it's not a, a pleasant treatment. And indeed, it did make you quite poorly, didn't it? Yeah, I mean, it was oral. It wasn't IV, but nevertheless that, you know, you still got the same kind of side effects. You feel sick. You know, you've got no energy with it. You know, and it was just, and it's the thought of having to like take it every day. I was having to take it, you know, all the time, every day and giving up your job, darling. So that must have been a huge wrench for you. What, what was that like? It was horrible. Cause it, you know, I've been in my job for about four years and I loved it. It wasn't so much of the job. It was like a, it's almost like a home from home kind of work situation. You know, it was like, it was like going to another home with my friends, you know, it was a, I loved my job, you know, and then I had to give it up and I just went from having that social side to literally being cut off completely, having nothing at all. She's been speaking out as figure show. East Kent Hospital's Trust has paid out £1.5 million in cancer misdiagnosis claims and delayed diagnosis in the past five years. Bosses say they're working hard to make improvements. It's online news. A woman who was on the same boat as five people who died in the channel has told us how terrifying it was. A child was among those who lost their lives trying to reach the UK earlier this week. One of the passengers has spoken through a translator. I sat on the edge of the boat and didn't go towards the other end. That's where people were fighting and people were getting stepped on, dying and thrown off. I thank God that I didn't get into the top part of the dinghy. I would have suffocated. The government says the tragedy highlights why the Rwanda bill is needed to try and put people off making the dangerous journey. It comes as two men have been charged with immigration offences over the tragedy in the channel. The 22-year-olds from Sudan and South Sudan are doing court today. More than £100,000 worth of stolen machinery has been recovered in Kent. The majority of the goods were taken from a property in Rutan, but police also found a trailer stolen from who and a digger believed to be from London. Three people have been arrested, two released on bail while inquiries continue. A man has been fined for using a dead woman's blue badge to park closer to his hotel in Ashford. Ashley Jones says he found on the floor and thought nothing of it. The 30-year-old from Passage Road in Bristol has been ordered to pay more than £1,000. A Gillingham fan who stole a safe from the club has told a court that his punishment was the best thing to happen to him. Sam Turner says he was able to quit drinking after being given a suspended sentence and an alcohol abstinence monitoring system. The 40-year-old from Gordon Road has been back before a judge for breaching a driving ban. It was described as a blip, and he's been given a community order. Local bosses are investigating after mounds of rubbish were left dumped along a footpath in North Fleet. Household waste and building materials have been piled along the stretch between Crete Hall Road and the Hill. Council say it's not the first time it's happened, and cameras could be installed to deter flightippers. Kent Online News Eurotunnel bosses are planning to install more than 100 new check-in booths in a bid to avoid delays when the new border systems begin this year. The electronic entry exit system replaces the manual stamping of passports from October sparking fears of a backlog of people trying to cross to France. The extra booths will be in Folkestone as well as additional parking spaces. Parents with children at a school in North Kent fear they won't be able to get to class on time, as a bus service looks set to be scrapped. The S1 currently takes pupils from Gravesend, Greenhive and Swanscombe to Longfield Academy. It's due to end next week, with the operators blaming a lack of demand. School bosses are set to submit a formal complaint. Council bosses in Thanat have abandoned ideas of introducing a so-called tourism tax. It's been suggested overnight visitors could be charged more to cover the cost of things like clearing waste and looking after the beaches. These people in Margate have been speaking to the local Democracy Reporting Service. I think it will be a really good thing. So yeah, put some money back into the local economy that it's missing during most of the year. The area doesn't even mean investment, but not in that tourist tax way, absolutely no way. I think it's a ridiculous idea. And at a cost on to a hotel, Bill's is just stupid. I don't think he'll put me off because I think I've been abroad and a lot of countries have mandated that. And I think with things they're going to gentrify, more people are just going to come to Margate. So if it means that the city will be cleaner and there'll be more benefits to the city, then I think it's fine. But I think as long as it goes to a good place, then I think I'm for it. At a cabinet meeting last night, Council bosses said they don't have the power to bring in the measures. James Bishop, who runs the Walpole Bay Hotel in Margate said costs are already high enough. People are willing to pay, but there's finding another way to get their money, which is fair to everybody. We want people to come here and we don't want them to have to pay through the nose. And we have to absorb lots of costs, but this is a tourist tax that would be, we'd be collecting it for the Council. It's not to do with our profits at all, but we already pay so much already towards the benefit of our visitors on the phone. And all our guests would say they pay a tourism tax and it's even been suggested that the beaches are ticketed because the beaches and the actual sea front itself are where most of the problems occur. Kent Online News The owner of a care home in Graves M says it's been completely empty for six months because of paperwork issues. Tricia Patel has spent £200,000 renovating Clarence Place, which has become 17 bedroom. Despite being approved by the Care Quality Commission, she's been unable to get registration from Kent County Council. Everyone's just been surprised that we're in this position where we've got prioritised for our CQC and then suddenly, you know, everything has just come to an abrupt halt. Why do you think it is? Again, I don't profess to be an expert. I know there are lots of cogs and wheels that go into making everything run and work. But maybe funding, maybe budgets, maybe a focus on trying to provide care within someone's home as opposed to in a care setting. No, no, no, no, no, no. Not directly. We've had other people in other departments come to see us, but no one from the adult social care. So how do you feel privately? It must be incredibly frustrating having got this process and got the project off the ground. How do you feel? It's really taken me for a six because it's not even if I was just assuming things. It's been, you know, we've talked to our counterparts. We have my landlord, has friends who own care homes, several care homes in the area. And you know, when they ask, "Oh, how's it going?" and you say, "We're still waiting for service users to start using our services." It's just shock, absolute shock from everyone. Like, they just cannot believe it. And everyone's dumbfounded as to why that is. I mean, Ajay has been working in the industry for 20 years over. And it's just, right? It's unprecedented. Okay. Have they given you any indicators, any kind of timeframe whatsoever? No, because I've asked them my email to KCC, like our contacts there who were assessing the application and I've asked them just so I can make an informed commercial decision about what our next steps are going to be. But it's kind of like, I don't think that email wasn't responded to, but I think that kind of means that it's going to take as long as it takes. How long can you go on like this? That's the next question that I think, you know, one that I'm fully aware of, that I'm going to have to answer soon. But luckily, I do have the support of the landlord. Like I said, their family, friends and working with them to figure out how long we can continue. And how long do you think that would be? What's the worst possible scenario? Another two or three months maybe. And then what we have to do just, we'll have to reassess like apply for change of use. But that's up, like I said, that's not to me. That's up to the landlord. Council bosses say they're waiting for documentation which she insists she's provided. We should find out next week if plans for an 8,000 seat a stadium in North Kent will go ahead. The idea of North Fleet Harbourside was first submitted almost two years ago and will be discussed by the Council's Planning Committee. If approved and built, the stadium would be used by EBS Fleet United. There'd also be houses and shops nearby. Two Kent MPs are urging people in East Malling to object to a new 1,300 home development before it's too late. A planning application has been lodged for a new community called Bradborne, said to be set across 80 hectares on farmland at East Malling and Ditten, Tracy Crouch and Helen Grant have both taken a stand against the project, saying it will impose impossible pressure on local infrastructure and take away precious countryside. Leisure centre bosses in Ashford say measures have been put in place to improve cleanliness following concerns about hygiene standards. A third cleaner has been employed at the Stower Centre, but some members still don't think that's enough. Kent Alliance been told managers and lifeguard teams also involved to significantly improve cleaning operations. Hospital bosses in Kent have apologised after a deaf man was scheduled for an operation without being told of the risks involved. Doctors at Kent and Canterbury Hospital thought the 47-year-old Canterbury man had requested the surgery to remove a painful cyst on his testicle but was instead asking about treatment options. The patient who communicates through British sign language says a lack of provision at his appointment is to blame, as there was no interpreter available, he later opted against the surgery. Tributes have been paid to a former firefighter and sheppy sea cadets volunteer who's died following a cancer battle. Peter Jones from Minskar has been described as a true gentleman who made a huge difference through his community work. The 67-year-old served with Kent Fire and Rescue for more than 20 years. Kent Online News A Kent town is gearing up to host their very first Pride event. Ashford will host a parade, live music and performances this summer to celebrate diversity and inclusion. The festivities will start in the town centre on June 22nd. Former Doctor Who starred Tom Baker has been pictured posing with a toy Dalek at a shop in Tentaton. The 90-year-old who played the fourth time lord in the 70s and 80s visited Sid's in Puriam earlier this week. You can see the photo at Kent Online. And California singer-songwriter Dasha has been on KMM to talk about her TikTok sensation Austin. The songs go on viral with people filming themselves line dancing. It's also climbed to number 7 on the Kent Top 40. Dasha spoke to Alex and Numi on the chart show. So let's talk about Austin. What a moment for you. But how did it first come together? Well I was in a session in LA and this was like last April I want to say April May maybe. And I was really upset about this guy that I had been seeing in Nashville. Yeah I was just telling the people in this session like I want to write like my Scorned Woman song. Yeah. So I was like I'm feeling it guys like I need to write a song that's just bigger than life and just about how angry I am and standing up for myself and regaining my power you know. Nice. And so Adam Winler who played guitar on Austin starts playing the chords and the first thing I did was freestyle the first two lines of that song. First off the melody it was enough to be like whoa that's a cool melody but then the lyric did your booth stop working. Everyone in the room was like what did you just say? Yeah it's such a good lyric. Thank you. Thanks. But uh no I didn't even know where that came from and it was really fun just having this very like otherworldly ether experience of like I don't know where this came from but it's happening and here's the song we're writing and we wrote the song in like less than an hour. Wow. Like it's very very fast and we're all very excited about it and I feel like songs flow way faster when everyone in the room is like genuinely stoked on like what's happening. Yeah on the same wavelength. Exactly we're all still on the same page and after I read the song we all were just like yeah this is going to be hit. We just kind of knew it was a really cool thing. Amazing. Well you were right. I know. Heck look at us. Um and um it's you know there's there's like going viral and then I feel like there's the level that Austin went because it was literally like every fourth sound on my TikTok for you page. Oh my god are you kidding me it was literally everywhere. It's just so cool to see so many people worldwide participating in the trend and I think that's one of the reasons that the song reached so globally was because of obviously the line dance trend and just being the artist behind that song was like the coolest feeling in the entire world. I mean you literally got the whole world line dancing that must have felt incredible. Exactly like I just wanted to bring back that culture of line dancing. I think it's the coolest thing ever and so much of like my generation hasn't experienced that and um I don't know I'm just so happy to be the one to to have done it's wild. If you wanted to listen back to that full chat you can find it at the podcast page at kmfm.co.uk Kent Online News. And now with a look at what's going on around the county it's Sam Laurie. We're coming to the end of the month so let's make sure we see our April with a bang this weekend. There's plenty going on over the next few days including some fantastic live shows from stand up comedy to family musicals. On Saturday Canterbury's Marlowe Theatre is bringing back its regular comedy night and this month it is a big one. April's Live at the Marlowe will be headlined by QI legend and actor Alan Davies who has been one of the UK's leading comedians for more than 30 years. The comic who started his stage career while studying drama and theatre at the University of Kent will be joined by a line up of rising stand up stars. If you love musicals but you simply can't choose a favourite there's a new show coming from London's West End that could be right up your alley. Sing the musicals is, as you might have guessed, a sing along show that features all of the biggest numbers from the stage including Mama Mia, Dirty Dancing, Rocky Horror Show, We Will Rock You and more. There's a big screen showing the lyrics so audiences are free to sing their hearts out to all of their favourite musical tunes. The unique show is at the Central Theatre in Chatham on Saturday night. Also something that's worth bearing in mind is that the show stopping musical Shrek is on tour and it's coming to Kent next week. The show starring former Strictly dancer Joanne Clifton will be at the Marlowe Theatre from Tuesday and there are a handful of tickets left so if you want to take the kids for an unforgettable night out then it could be worth snapping up those last few seats. Now I've also got a couple of events for grown ups only this weekend. The Meet the Brewer Showcase returns to Macknade in Thavisham tonight with more than 40 different beers and siders on offer from producers all over Kent. It's free to attend and along with the drinks you can also enjoy carefully selected cheese pairings, discounted food from the site's Outdoor Food Village and live music from Thomas Abrahams. Also on Saturday and Sunday the checkers in Laddingford near Mainstone will be throwing a free Real Ale Festival. The 2-day festival will be serving up pints from lots of local breweries and fingers crossed the sun shows its face because the pub has a fantastic beer garden where punters can sit back and relax. That's it for this weekend but of course next week we have the first of our two spring bank holidays so make sure you keep an eye on what's on to find the best things to do over the May Day weekend. Thanks Sam. There is one other event that might be of interest to all the motor heads in Kent, a circuit where Lewis Hamilton started his career is hosting a 24 hour race this weekend. 35 teams of up to 8 people will be competing for a place at the Buckmore Park History Books. The event started in 2013 and is now so popular places sold out in just 90 seconds, Phil Ling is the MD at the circuit. Essentially it is an endurance race event. 30 teams taking part in it for 24 hours so there's a practice session first, teams get used to everything that's going on, conditions for the day, a qualifying session to set the grid for the actual start of the race and then competing in teams 24 hours of straight race in person that completes all the team that completes the most laps at the end of the 24 hours as the winners. We put a lot of work into each of these events. We run events every day but this one is just that little bit more special for us. Not only the calibre of the teams that we get booking into this, people come from all over the country and doing this each year but it's just the popularity of the event we just try to make it, especially the live stream that we have. It's got to be the best event that we put on each year. The beginning of the race obviously is really exciting. You've got all 30 teams trying to head into that first corner at the same time. Everybody wants to come out in the lead, making sure that they are in the lead at the beginning. Obviously you've still got 23 hours and 59 minutes and 45 seconds left to win the race but everybody wants to do it on that first bend. It will start to calm down a little bit and then really the results do get a bit mixed up as the race goes on. Purely for the fact that teams are doing driver changes, they're doing fuel stops, they're service stops throughout the race. It's really not till towards the end of the event on the Sunday that the leaderboard starts to level itself out and that's when you've got the fight back on your hands again. Ken's on line, sports. Football now in Jillingham will be looking to end the season on a high as they host Doncaster Rovers this weekend. The gills have already missed out on any hopes of reaching the playoff places after losing 2-1 to Mansfield town last Saturday. He's striker Josh Andrews. Obviously we've disappointed. We know we haven't achieved what we could have but we just want to finish the season strong and I think everyone is really rare to get going for next season because we know as a squad as a team and as a club we can achieve something. The first half in Mansfield we were very good. It's about maintaining it and Mansfield are a good side, they've obviously got automatic promotion and that's the sort of level we need to be looking at and maintaining that first half performance for the whole game and if we do that I think we win the game and again there wasn't much in it but unfortunately we came out on the wrong side. Obviously everyone's motivation has just finished the season strong and every player wants to win on the weekend. You want to win the three points that's for any game but I think every player can find their own extra bit of motivation and you know I played at Doncaster and I know a few of the players so you know I wouldn't mind getting one over on them. And here's what Jill's boss Steven Clements had to say. We was disappointed after they got into letting not 2 goals in the last 20 minutes, 2 very good goals on their part as well. So it was disappointing because I thought the lads really played well in the first half and the second half I felt Mansfield did get on top of us and they showed what quality they got. What they did show me Mansfield it thought that's a bit of a benchmark that's where you need to be at if you're going to be successful in the league. So I think that was good for the players to see too. But this week we've prepared like normal we want to go into the game and we want to win against Doncaster. I know they've got still plenty to play for themselves but we want to make sure we send our phones our fans happy this summer with a result and that's going to be the aim so we'll go into the game fully prepared with the ball and without it and we'll take our game plan to them. Meanwhile Steven Clements says he's already in talks with new potential recruits. There could be a bit of experimentation with the team as they try out a new way of playing for next season. That's all from us today. Thanks ever so much for listening. Don't forget you can follow us on Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok and threads. You can also get the details on the top stories direct to your email each morning by the briefing to sign up just head to Kentonline.co.uk and while you're there on the website why not check out the latest review from The Secret Drinkout. News you can trust. This is the Kenton Line Podcast.
