Corridor care takes toll on staff

‘URSES have shared stories of the “broken system” of corridor care that “tortures” patients, with people left in chairs for days and one patient dying from choking.

- JANE KIRBY

A general view of staff on a NHS hospital ward

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN), which published new findings on the practice, said collapsing care standards in the NHS are pushing staff morale almost “past the point of no return”.

‘The union contacted thousands of nurses who contributed to a major report on corridor care last year to see whether they were still providing this type of care and the impact.

Responses from 436 nurses this month showed poor care is still happening, with one patient left in a chair for four days and another patient dying after choking undetected in a corridor.

Nurses told of having to hold up white sheets to protect patient dignity while performing intimate procedures, while a corridor in one hospital was so full that an elderly patient was left to eat next to someone who was vomiting.

A nurse working in the NHS in the South West said: “I imagine patients feel deeply embarrassed, objectified, judged, uncared for, feel a burden on a broken system, wishing they had never bothered to come in and would rather have taken the risk of dying at home than go through the torture. Because that’s what we subject them to, a type of torture.”

Another nurse in the South said: “We would not treat animals like this in a veterinary practice, so why in a hospital?”

Nursing staff told the RCN they treat patients in freezing corridors, dining rooms, staff kitchens, offices, seminar rooms, family rooms, deceased viewing rooms and discharge lounges.

‘A nurse in the South said they suffered nightmares after a patient died in a lounge which had been turned into a ward.