In a stark revelation during the release of the Royal College of Nursing’s (RCN) corridor care report, Health Secretary Wes Streeting admitted to the House of Commons that he “cannot promise that patients will not be treated in corridors next year”.
This statement has sparked widespread concern over the state of the healthcare system in England.
Fresh polling from YouGov, conducted on behalf of the RCN, underscores the urgency felt by the public. Nearly half (48%) of respondents in England believe that if the government takes decisive action, care and treatment being delivered in non-medical areas could be eradicated within a year. The data highlights a divided opinion on accountability, with 50% of people blaming the previous government and 48% holding the current administration responsible for resolving the issue.
The polling data also reveals that an overwhelming 90% of people in England view the prevention of care in non-medical areas, such as corridors and car parks, as an “urgent” priority. Disturbingly, nearly one in five (19%) individuals have witnessed or received care in such conditions within the last six months.
Due to this, the RCN is now urging the government to implement mandatory reporting and take swift, comprehensive action to address the root causes of the crisis. The organisation is calling for the eradication of corridor care to be a central focus in the new 10-Year Plan, set to be unveiled this spring.
Chief Executive and General Secretary of the RCN, Professor Nicola Ranger, said:
“The public and nursing staff can see a tragedy for patients unfolding before their eyes. They know care standards are unacceptable and they want government to act decisively. The first step it can take to protect patients from corridor care is to introduce mandatory reporting of any time it takes place.
“To properly solve this crisis, the government has to bring forward new and urgent investment into the nursing workforce, especially in the community and social care. That is the key to keeping patients healthy at home and easing pressures on hospitals.
"Exhausted, overstretched and demoralised nursing staff are working hard to keep patients safe, but they cannot do so without measures to fill the thousands of vacancies in the NHS and social care. This includes delivering a meaningful pay rise to recruit and retain staff.”
Alongside this drive to cut corridor care, the RCN also outlined the importance of reporting any concerning practices within the workplace, to ensure patient safety and service improvement.
In response to the polling that the RCN did, Rory Deighton, NHS Confederation Acute Director said:
“NHS leaders don’t want to be providing care in corridors and are clear that this is always a last resort. But NHS staff have been left with little choice and their focus continues to be on mitigating the risks to patients when they have no other beds available.
"It will take time to get the measures in place to eradicate the need for corridor care as this has resulted from a long-term failure to provide sufficient capacity in the NHS and social care. But that is the ambition and NHS leaders and staff will do all they can to achieve that.
"They will need support from government to make this happen. While we agree that there needs to be transparency and accountability on this issue, we would urge the government to ensure that any new reporting requirements on corridor care contribute to solving the problem rather than gumming up valuable clinician and management capacity.”
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