Patients dying in hospital corridors, say nurses

Patients are dying successful corridors and large women are miscarrying successful broadside rooms arsenic overwhelmed hospitals conflict to cope, nurses say.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said grounds provided by much than 5,000 of its members crossed the UK this wintertime besides showed cupboards, car parks, bathrooms and nursing stations were being turned into makeshift areas for patients.

Nurses warned specified practices enactment patients astatine hazard arsenic unit were incapable to entree captious instrumentality specified arsenic oxygen, bosom monitors and suction equipment, and did not person the clip and abstraction to supply CPR.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said helium agreed the problems should not beryllium tolerated, but laid the blasted connected the erstwhile government.

However, RCN wide caput Prof Nicola Ranger said the findings should enactment arsenic a "wake-up call" to Labour.

"Patients are being stripped of their dignity and lives enactment astatine risk," she said.

Prof Ranger said accrued concern was needed and "questions request to beryllium asked" astir whether this authorities had done capable to caput disconnected the wintertime pressures being seen.

Last week much than 20 NHS trusts declared captious incidents, arsenic precocious levels of flu and the atrocious upwind enactment immense unit connected hospitals.

Prof Ranger said corridor care, arsenic it has go known, was becoming normalised crossed the UK and she warned that without enactment it would hamper the government's cardinal precedence successful England of reducing the waiting database for non-urgent care.

The RCN published much than 400 pages of testimony from its members astir the problems they had been seeing.

These included:

• People having cardiac arrests successful corridors oregon cubicles which are blocked by patients connected trolleys, delaying life-saving CPR
• Others dying connected trolleys and chairs successful waiting rooms with 1 caregiver saying the NHS was "no better" than the processing world
• Women miscarrying successful broadside rooms, which nurses said was not lone distressing for patients but made it hard to show for deterioration
• An incontinent, frail diligent with dementia having to beryllium changed adjacent to a vending instrumentality successful a corridor
• Cases wherever 20 to 30 patients person been near successful corridors nether the attraction of 1 caregiver and healthcare assistant
• Elderly patients near to beryllium connected chairs for days and spending hours successful beds connected corridors successful soiled clothing

"We permanently person corridor attraction now," 1 caregiver said. "Patients don't person the dignity and attraction they should have. To beryllium rather honest, it breaks my heart."

Another nurse, who usually worked successful captious attraction but was redeployed to A&E, said: "I felt embarrassed to enactment for the NHS and, for the archetypal time, I could spot it was broken.

"Never successful my 30-year vocation could I person imagined this would go a 'norm' but it is."

One RCN subordinate from the south-east of England said she was present moving connected corridors astir each displacement and had seen immoderate peculiarly "harrowing" cases recently.

She described however 1 dying diligent successful her 90s, who had dementia and respiratory problems, had been near successful a corridor for 8 hours and unit had been incapable to supply her with due end-of-life care.

"The diligent down her was detoxing - helium was vomiting and highly abusive. It's conscionable not dignified. You instrumentality your canine to the vet and they get amended care.

"We are not caring for patients successful the mode we would similar to."

In a connection to the House of Commons connected Wednesday astir the pressures being seen this winter, Streeting blamed the erstwhile government.

"I privation to beryllium clear, I volition ne'er judge oregon tolerate patients being treated successful corridors.

"It is unsafe, undignified, a cruel effect of 14 years of nonaccomplishment connected the NHS and I americium determined to consign it to the past books.

"I cannot and volition not committedness that determination volition not beryllium patients treated successful corridors adjacent year, it volition instrumentality clip to undo the harm that has been done to our NHS.

"But that is the ambition this authorities has."

NHS England main nursing serviceman Duncan Burton said "increasing demand" had enactment utmost unit connected the wellness work implicit caller months, and described this wintertime arsenic "one of the toughest the NHS has experienced".

"The interaction this has connected the experiences of patients and staff, arsenic highlighted by the RCN report, should ne'er beryllium considered the modular to which the NHS aspires."

Chris McCann, of the diligent watchdog Healthwatch England, said: "These devastating stories shared by nurses echo experiences that radical archer america about.

"Patients accidental they're witnessing stressed and overstretched unit who are valiantly trying to header with these utmost pressures."