In the RCN report almost seven in 10 (66.8%) nurses said they're delivering care in over-crowded or unsuitable places – such as corridors, converted cupboards and even car parks – on a daily basis.
Nursing staff reported caring for up to 40 patients in a corridor unable to access oxygen, cardiac monitors, suction and other lifesaving equipment. They reported female patients miscarrying in corridors, while others said they cannot provide adequate or timely CPR to patients having heart attacks.
More than 9 in 10 (90.8%) of those surveyed said patient safety was being compromised. More than a said they weren't told the corridor they were providing care in was classed as a ‘temporary escalation space', as described by the NHS in England, meaning risk protocols and additional measures may not be in place to ease pressures and protect patients.
Staff also reported cancer patients being put in corridors and other inappropriate spaces.
The report followed a letter sent Government and NHS England from an RCN-led coalition, calling on officials to publish how many patients are being cared for in corridors and other inappropriate places.
Reaction
RCN general secretary and chief executive, Professor Nicola Ranger, said the report offered ‘devastating testimony' of how patients were coming to harm every day
‘We can now categorically say patients are dying in this situation,' she said.
Liberal Democrat health and social care spokesperson, Helen Morgan, called on health secretary Wes Streeting to produce an emergency plan ‘to get more beds into hospitals to return bed occupancy rates to safe levels and to bring forward a pandemic-style emergency recruitment campaign to bring staff out of retirement and back into the workforce'.
Rory Deighton, acute director at the NHS Confederation, said: ‘While our members share the Government's ambitions to reduce waiting lists for routine procedures, we know we can't sacrifice improvement in emergency care to fund elective care. They require an equal focus, and we look forward to working with the Government on improving urgent and emergency care performance.'
Assistant director of policy at The Health Foundation, Tim Gardner, said the report illustrated the ‘scale of the challenge faced by the new Government, just in getting the NHS back on its feet and delivering the standards of care people expect, let alone the complexities of longer-term reform'.
Saffron Cordery, interim chief executive, NHS Providers, said: ‘It's clear much more needs to be done to minimise incidents of corridor care now and in the future. Nobody wants to see this normalised.'
Duncan Burton, chief nursing officer for England, said building a health service that was fit for the future was a ‘key priority' for the NHS and Government, adding the NHS was ‘continuing to work hard to deliver improvements across urgent and emergency care for patients and our staff'.
