'LIKE WATCHING A HORRID FILM I CAN'T STOP'

Britain's nurses describe the 'heartbreaking' burden of dealing with a record 518,000 hospital 'trolley waits' of 12 hours or more last year

- By Hanna Geissler Health Editor

HEARTBROKEN nurses have described harrowing scenes of dying patients being crammed into hospital corridors.

One said the experience was "like watching a horrid film I can't stop". The health workers' testimony, given in a damning 460-page report, lays bare the scale of the crisis gripping the NHS.

Another shocking account said: "One patient vomited in the corridor but also" vomited on another patient because they were so close together. I was absolutely heartbroken for both of these patients." Overcrowding means patients are dying on trolleys while waiting for beds, said the Royal College of Nursing, which surveyed more than 5,000 nurses. Nurses have seen women suffering miscarriages in corridors, patients being left to soil them selves and dead patients going undiscovered for hours.

The RCN investigated the impact of so-called corridor care, where patients are treated in corridors, converted cupboards or car parks while waiting for ward beds.

The conditions described as - "animal-like" by one nurse - mean people are stripped of their dignity in their darkest hours.

Some nurses had cared for patients in rooms usually reserved for breastfeeding, viewing rooms where relatives see their deceased relatives and quiet rooms on psychiatric wards. Other locations included dining, counselling and bereavement rooms, cloakrooms and on chairs in lounges.

A paramedic, who had worked for 10 years as a nurse, said they had "never experienced such a broken system". They added: "As a nurse it is heartbreaking to provide care in corridors and storage rooms where there is no humanity for anyone involved.

"I worked throughout Covid-19 and although it was a horrendous experience, this lack of care in the broken system is worse."