You may have noticed the term ‘corridor care’ cropping up in the news lately - but what does it actually mean and why is it a problem for our NHS?
Carry on reading to find out more, as we look at the definition of corridor care and how industry leaders are responding.
What is corridor care?
Corridor care is used to describe the situation where a patient has to be given treatment/care from medical staff in the corridor of the hospital or other communal space. This usually occurs due to a lack of available beds or resources to accommodate all patients. Corridor care is obviously a suboptimal situation which is a symptom of the worsening NHS crisis.
What’s the impact on nurses?
Corridor care can cause moral injury and distress for nurses, knowing they're providing inadequate care to patients due to circumstances out of their control. To add to this:
84% of nurses said it takes them longer than usual to provide care.
6 in 10 nurses are afraid of being struck off the nursing register due to patient harm as a result of corridor care
2 out of 3 nurses faced increased violence or aggression from frustrated violence or aggression from frustrated patients and relatives.
What’s been going on in the UK?
Hospital staff are being given no choice but to provide care to patients in corridors due to a severe shortage of available beds.
The Royal College of Nursing warned that this is becoming increasingly common, with ‘ikea hooks’ being used to make DIY IV stands.
RCN Director for England, Patricia Marquis, said: “Ministers – including the Prime Minister – have so far refused to acknowledge that health and care is in crisis, yet some of what we are hearing from the frontline beggars belief.
“Corridor care appears to have become the norm. Some nurses are being booked to work in hospital corridors, others are being asked to buy Ikea hooks so intravenous drips can be attached to the corridor wall, and some patients are having cardiac arrests because of mistakes made using cumbersome oxygen cylinders to treat them.
“And ministers’ solution?”, he continues, “Treat patients in cabins in car parks or move them to care homes who don’t have the staff to run extra beds or to hotel rooms.
“Today’s figures suggest this picture is only going to get worse. Hospitals are full, many patients face very long waits to be admitted from A&E and the waiting list for routine treatment remains sky high.
“The government has had months and months to address this but has not acted. They must row back on years of underinvestment in nursing, starting with an immediate pay rise.”
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