Corridor care is simply unacceptable

From the start of 2025, you will have likely heard the term corridor care being mentioned when our NHS is being discussed on broadcast news or being written about in the papers.

- BY WEST SCOTLAND LABOUR MSP PAUL O'KANE

It means, in the most basic sense, when patients are being treated in an area of the hospital that isn’t considered an appropriate place to provide care.

Just a few months ago, the first concerns of corridor care occurring at the Royal Alexandra Hospital (RAH) in Paisley were raised when Healthcare Improvement Scotland highlighted the problem following an inspection of the emergency department.

Its report said “corridor care” was “normalised” in the RAH and gave the stark warning that it should not be tolerated.

Concerned by that report, I submitted a freedom of information request to see if I could find anything more about the scale of corridor care at the RAH.

My request specifically asked for correspondence between people in senior leadership roles at the RAH.