Patients are dying, miscarrying and suffering cardiac arrest in hospital corridors due to insufficient space and discharge delays, according to the ‘devastating testimonies’ of thousands of nurses.
In a survey by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), more than 5,000 nursing staff have shared their experiences of caring for patients inappropriate places – including in hospital corridors, bathrooms, cloakrooms, and even in viewing rooms usually reserved for recently deceased patients and their families.
The RCN said corridor care was now ‘widespread’ and a regular experience for patients and staff, with issues around GP practice and community care access compounding the issue.
Its survey revealed almost seven in 10 (66.81%) were providing care in overcrowded or unsuitable places on a daily basis.
Nurses have described the situation as ‘exhausting and soul destroying’ and that caring in these environments ‘makes you feel like you failed as nurse’.
One nurse described the ‘animal-like conditions’ that some vulnerable patients have been subjected to, and another said their workplace situation was ‘like watching a horrid film that I can’t stop’.
The report found examples of nurses caring for as many as 40 patients in a single corridor, as well as cases where staff are unable to access oxygen, cardiac monitors, suction and other lifesaving equipment.
Some nurses reported female patients miscarrying in corridors, while others said they cannot provide sufficient or timely CPR to patients having heart attacks, including children.
Over nine in 10 (90.82%) of those surveyed believe patient safety is being compromised, with some patients dying in hospital corridors and going undiscovered for hours.
One nurse recalled a patient suffering cardiac arrest in the corridor by the male toilet and dying, while another described patients receiving CPR in a corridor ‘while everyone watches on’.
One respondent warned that ‘too many patients’ that are stuck in hospital but unable to be discharged because of a lack of community care.
Another said the social care system is ‘absolutely broken’ and that they were ‘totally disillusioned with the NHS’.
The nurses surveyed also shared major concerns about infection prevention and control, with patient’s being squeezed into tight spaces next to one another.
One nurse, based in a hospital in the South of England, recalled a patient vomiting on another patient because they were so close together.
‘I was absolutely heartbroken for both these patients,’ they said.
Over a quarter of nursing staff surveyed by the RCN said they were not told that the corridor they were providing care in was classified as a ‘temporary escalation space,’ as described by the NHS in England.
As a result, risk protocols and additional measures may not be in place to ease pressures and protect patients.
RCN chief executive Professor Nicola Ranger said reading nurses’ experiences and the impact it has had on patients and the profession was ‘heartbreaking’.
‘This devastating testimony from frontline nursing staff shows patients are coming to harm every day, forced to endure unsafe treatment in corridors, toilets, and even rooms usually reserved for families to visit deceased relatives,’ she said.
‘Vulnerable people are being stripped of their dignity and nursing staff are being denied access to vital lifesaving equipment. We can now categorically say patients are dying in this situation.’
Earlier this week, the government was urged to introduce mandatory reporting on care in inappropriate spaces, like corridors, amid a surge in demand for healthcare services this winter.
And today, the RCN repeated that call – urging the government to take ‘bold action’.
‘Ministers cannot shirk responsibility and need to recognise that recovering patient care will take new investment, including in building a strong nursing workforce,’ she said.
‘Health leaders must also commit to publishing the data on exactly how many patients are being cared for in these circumstances. The public deserves to know what is happening to patient safety.’
In a statement published yesterday health and social care secretary, Wes Streeting, said corridor care became ‘normalised’ in NHS hospitals under the previous Conservative Government.
Mr Streeting said he ‘will never accept or tolerate’ corridor care, describing it as ‘unsafe’ and ‘undignified’.
‘I cannot and will not promise that there will not be patients treated in corridors next year, it will take time to undo the damage that has been done to our NHS,’ he added.
‘But that is the ambition this government has.’
Duncan Burton, chief nursing officer (CNO) for England, said ‘increasing levels of demand’ had caused ‘one of the toughest winters the NHS has experienced’.
Assistant director of policy at The Health Foundation, Tim Gardner, said: ‘Today’s report from the Royal College of Nursing brings into sharp focus the harrowing experiences facing some patients and staff in NHS hospitals this winter.
‘Delays in A&E and resorting to corridor care is not a safe way to run a health service, putting patients at risk of avoidable harm and, as these testimonies highlight, taking a major toll on NHS staff.
‘Unfortunately, there are no quick fixes and action is needed right across the health system, including investment in additional capacity in both primary and acute care, new technology and skills to streamline services and boost productivity, as well as long overdue reform and investment in social care.’
Recent weeks have seen a significant rise flu, norovirus and RSV in the NHS, with multiple hospitals having declared critical incidents due to high volumes of patients being admitted.
A version of this article was first published on our sister title Nursing in Practice.
