An NHS hospital is recruiting nurses dedicated to ‘corridor care’ to treat patients stuck on trolleys in corridors in its overwhelmed A&E department.
The Whittington Hospital in Archway, north London, posted a number of adverts last week calling for nurses to take shifts treating patients who are awaiting ward admission on trolleys.
The adverts described to role as ‘corridor care’ or said the hospital was looking for a ‘corridor registered nurse’ for a band five salary of just under £30,000.
It comes as reports suggest NHS Trusts are fitting power sockets and oxygen lines in corridor walls to prepare for large influxes of patients waiting for beds.
Last month Whittington Hospital saw more than 9,000 patients, with around a third of those waiting longer than four hours to be seen.
Around 380 spent at least 12 hours waiting on a trolley after being admitted.
More than 54,000 patients waited for more than 12 hours across England in December, the third-highest month ever recorded.
Meanwhile ambulance delays outside of hospitals were at record highs as around 20,000 waited over an hour to hand over patients to hospital staff.
Around 380 patients at Whittington Hospital spent at least 12 hours waiting on a trolley after being admitted last month. Stock image
Some medics have praised the decision to bring in the so-called ‘corridor nurses’. Â
However the Royal College of Nursing, with support from the British Medical Association, the Patients Association, Age UK and the Royal College of Physicians, has written to Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, and called on him to act now.
The letter said the practice was ‘a year-round scourge in our hospitals’, The Telegraph reported.
‘We are clear that treating patients in corridors, on chairs and other inappropriate spaces is in no way acceptable and must end,’ it read.
They called on Mr Streeting and the NHS to publish data on the number of people receiving corridor care.
NHS England has said it will begin to do this in its weekly situation reports starting at the end of this month.
Professor Nicola Ranger, head of the Royal College of Nursing, told The Sunday Times: ‘Recruiting tired nurses to do extra shifts solely in corridors is desperate. It shows just how normalised this practice has become.
‘What was once an extraordinary escalation measure is now commonplace across our NHS. There is no scenario in which it constitutes good or safe care. It is an affront to patient safety and dignity and we should not be standing for it.’
The hospital said corridor care was an ‘absolute last resort’ and apologised to patients who had faced long waiting times
A spokesperson for Whittington Health NHS Trust said it had been experiencing very significant pressure and corridor care was an ‘absolute last resort’.
They said they were grateful to their staff for their commitment during a period of ‘extraordinary pressure’ and apologised for those whose care did not meet their ‘usual high standard’.
An NHS England spokesman said: ‘The NHS is facing unprecedented demand for services, but we remain clear that caring for patients in temporary spaces is not acceptable and should never be considered as standard.
‘All NHS trusts will begin to report a count of the number of patients who receive care within temporary escalation spaces via a new metric in NHS England’s situation reports from Jan 25.’
