Channel 4 Dispatches has uncovered the extent of ‘corridor care’ at an NHS hospital, after a reporter disguised as a healthcare assistant secretly filmed inside the emergency department.
According to the BBC, the programme exposes the issues at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital in April and May, which saw patients having to wait up to 46 hours to be seen.
The programme-makers told the BBC that patients suffered indignity daily, and emphasised the issue of ‘corridor care ’ in the NHS today.
In response to the allegations, an NHS spokesperson apologised and said they faced significant challenges in urgent care but also disputed some claims made in the programme due to air on Channel 4 on Monday.
Dispatches said their undercover reporter witnessed patients waiting in a ‘Fit to Sit’ area overnight, due to a lack of trolleys, and one person was there for 30 hours.
Another woman with a suspected stroke was reportedly sat in the area for 24 hours, while an elderly man was seen urinating in a bottle while in full view of staff and other patients.
Dispatches have also said they witnessed other members of staff discussing how the level of care on offer is “disgusting” and one nurse referred to how paramedics left patients without a handover, which is “really unsafe”.
Prof Alf Collins, trustee of the Patients Association and former NHS England clinical director for personalised care, added:
“It’s dreadful. People waiting just far, far too long.”
Talking about the elderly patient urinating in a corridor, he said the “very most basic standard of care that we should be delivering is not being delivered”.
“It’s unacceptable that people should be cared for in corridors, clearly unacceptable,” he added.
The programme was aired on Monday, 24 June, and comes after ongoing reports of criticised ‘corridor care’ at NHS hospitals.
Earlier this month, the Royal College of Nursing urged for more to be done as caring for patients in hospital corridors has become “normal”.
This comes after a report titled, ‘Corridor Care: unsafe, undignified, unacceptable’ led by Acting General Secretary and Chief Executive Professor Nicola Ranger which highlights the extent of ‘corridor care’ in NHS hospitals and puts a plan into place to eradicate the problem.
Some of the issues raised included how overcrowded some hospitals are, and as a result, patients are being treated on chairs in corridors, car parks and without the appropriate equipment to help them.
One nurse recalled how a patient with dementia was left in a corridor for hours without oxygen. “When I arrived, she was in a wheelchair in a corridor with her daughter. She was extremely agitated, crying and confused. This care environment for any patient, never mind with dementia, was completely inappropriate,” she said.
Meanwhile, a new survey of almost 11,000 frontline nursing staff across the UK found that more than one in three (37%) nursing staff reported delivering care in an inappropriate area, such as a corridor.
Further reading
Hospital negligence – Oakwood Solicitors
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Jade Glover is a Solicitor in the Medical Negligence team. She has worked for the company for over 9 years and completed her training during that time. She has specialised in Personal Injury clai…
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