New testimony from nursing staff has exposed the increasing risks of hospital overcrowding corridor care, with almost seven in 10 nurses saying they are treating patients in unsuitable places each day.

Corridors, offices, converted cupboards and even car parks are being used daily to care for patients, in what the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) says is a ‘devastating collapse in care’.

The RCN survey has heard from over 5,000 nursing staff across the UK, including around 500 from Scotland, who say patients are routinely coming into harms way as lower care standards have become normalised.

Demoralised nursing staff working in Scotland report caring for multiple patients in a single corridor, unable to access oxygen, cardiac monitors and other lifesaving equipment.

One Scottish nurse shared that confidentiality breaches are happening “all the time” and patients are deteriorating in corridors as staff are too busy, adding:

“Something needs to be done as this is now seen as ‘normal practice’. We are putting Scottish government targets before patients and it needs to stop.”

Some patients have gone into cardiac arrest in a corridor, with others left with no access to bathroom facilities or buzzers, with nurses having to deliver personal care to incontinent patients with no privacy, according to the report.

Of those surveyed, nine in 10 say patient safety is being compromised.

One Scottish nurse commented:

“Department with capacity for 13 beds, we had 40 in, with patients on chairs having treatments administered, also sitting in the waiting room on cardiac monitors, using privacy screens to put around patients to use the bedpan.”

Another said an elderly patient who was bed bound and incontinent needed a space in private to be cleaned but the “only option was the charge nurse’s office”.

A wake-up call for government

While the Scottish government’s commitment to NHS reform amidst rising demand and long waits has been welcomed by nursing and medical unions, it has also been met with repeated calls for increased staff and resources to address the workforce crisis.

The national public service watchdog said the Scottish government must provide a clear action plan to address pressures facing staff, while BMA Scotland has urged the government to deliver more workforce support to protect the NHS.

Now, RCN Scotland Director Colin Poolman is urging the government to detail how it will invest to build capacity and address nursing shortages:

“This report makes for distressing reading and should be a wakeup call for Scottish government.

“The impact goes far beyond the doors of emergency departments, with nursing staff across many acute settings desperately struggling as they are forced to create space in clinical areas for additional unstaffed beds or provide patient care in corridors and other inappropriate locations.

“This is completely unacceptable for patient safety and staff wellbeing. No patient should ever have to suffer the risk or indignity of being cared for in such a way – yet it has been allowed to become normal practice.

“The Scottish government must 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.

“They must also commit to long term action and investment focused on addressing the nursing workforce shortages and building sustainable capacity both within the NHS and most importantly within community and social care.”

Nursing testimonies also reveal serious concerns about infection prevention and control, with patients crammed into tight spaces next to one another.

One nurse said: “Flu positive patients being transferred to wards before rooms become available. Patients with flu then being cared for in ward corridors next to other vulnerable patients.”

RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive, Professor Nicola Ranger, said:

“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.

“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.

“The revelations from our wards must now become a moment in time. A moment for bold government action on an NHS which has been neglected for so long.”

First Minister cites pressure from flu

Responding to the RCN report in the Scottish parliament today, First Minister John Swinney apologised to anyone whose experience of care had been unsatisfactory, but said Scotland’s hospitals have been “wrestling” with “the enormity of the increase in flu cases” over the past few weeks – the peak period being when the RCN survey was being undertaken.

Speaking at First Minister’s Questions, he added:

“I accept and acknowledge the enormity of the pressure on the NHS. I have been completely candid with the Parliament about that over a number of weeks. As a consequence, we have been leading a process of supporting our territorial boards and the Scottish Ambulance Service.

“I know from the review call that I chaired that there has been a significant improvement in the delivery of healthcare in emergency situations as a consequence of the reduction in the number of flu cases that I have mentioned.

“I am grateful to members of the public for their co-operation in ensuring that they secure the right care in the right place, and I am profoundly grateful to staff for working so hard during an incredibly difficult and demanding period.”

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