LONDON: UK patients are “coming to harm” with hospitals so overwhelmed people are dying in corridors awaiting treatment amid a “collapse in care standards,” a report said Thursday.
In the latest indictment of Britain’s beleaguered state-funded National Health Service, nine in 10 NHS nurses surveyed by the country’s nurses union said “patient safety is being compromised.”
Nearly seven in 10 (66.8 percent) said they were delivering care in “overcrowded or unsuitable places” on a “daily basis,” including in corridors, converted cupboards, car parks and even bereavement rooms.
“The experiences of over 5,000 nursing staff across the UK highlight a devastating collapse in care standards, with patients routinely coming to harm,” said the Royal College of Nursing.
The report condemned the “normalization” of so-called “corridor care,” with nurses unable to access lifesaving equipment in cramped spaces.
One nurse in east England said corridor care in their hospital trust was “not an exception, it’s the rule.”
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The report condemned the ‘normalization’ of so-called ‘corridor care,’ with nurses unable to access lifesaving equipment in cramped spaces.
Last month, some 54,000 patients in emergency departments in England had to wait over 12 hours until a hospital bed was available, up 23 percent from December 2023.
The report is a result of a Royal College of Nursing request at the end of December, asking members to fill out a short survey.
The report includes “the raw, unedited and often heart-breaking comments” of the thousands of nursing staff working across the UK who responded, the RCN said.
There are some 7.5 million people on the NHS waiting list, with more than 3 million having faced delays longer than 18 weeks for treatment.
Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who was elected in July on a ticket which included fixing the NHS, rolled out a plan at the start of the year which included expanding community health centers to reduce pressure on hospitals.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting on Wednesday said corridor care was “unsafe” and “undignified” but it would “take time to undo the damage” to the NHS.
