Hospital doctors have warned that so-called corridor care is risking patient safety and “must not be normalised” following the release of new figures from NHS England.
HCSA – the hospital doctors’ union president Dr Claudia Paoloni spelled out the risks to patients, and the impact on distressed healthcare staff treating them, from a practice now so widespread in England that on average nearly 3,000 people a day are being treated without proper facilities.
She called for sustained investment in hospital capacity and the factors impacting on patient flow, warning that until that happens people will continue to receive care in a way “far below the level we should expect from a modern health service.”
Dr Paoloni said: “Corridor care is not just an operational problem, it is a direct threat to patient safety. This situation must not be normalised.
“It places patients at risk, undermines dignity and causes significant distress to hospital doctors and other healthcare professionals who know the care they are being forced to provide falls short of the standards they strive to achieve.
“We know that prolonged waits and overcrowding are linked to avoidable harm and deaths.
“Doctors enter medicine to provide safe, dignified and high-quality care. That’s simply not possible when patients have to be examined, monitored and treated in corridors. Privacy is compromised, infection control is more difficult, and access to essential equipment and multidisciplinary support may be limited.
“No doctor should have to choose between treating patients in unsuitable conditions or leaving them without care.
“We need sustained investment in hospital capacity, social care, staff numbers and patient flow throughout the health and care system.
“Until these underlying issues are addressed, doctors will continue to face impossible circumstances and patients will continue to receive care in environments that fall far below the level we should expect from a modern healthcare system.”