Leading emergency doctors have expressed concern about a new guide on how to treat patients in corridors, saying it is “normalising the dangerous”. NHS England has produced guidance on “providing safe and good quality care in temporary escalation spaces”. But the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) said the “nonsensical” guidance is “out of touch”.
The guidance, published in September, acknowledges corridor care is “not acceptable and should not be considered as standard” but due to current pressures some hospitals are “using temporary escalation spaces more regularly - and this use is no longer ‘in extremis”’. It suggests how staff can deliver the “safest, most effective and highest quality care possible” to patients in these circumstances.
Responding, RCEM said it is “not possible to provide safe and good quality care” in corridors or cupboards. The College said: “Advice from arm’s length bodies that appear out of touch with what is happening in our departments was always going to be poorly received.”.
Use of corridors will lead to long waits in emergency departments which is “associated with measurable harm to patients”, it added. The RCEM said patient privacy and dignity are “not maintained” when they are being cared for in corridors. Rest and sleep for patients is “difficult, if not impossible” and patient confidentiality “cannot be maintained”. Meanwhile, controlling the spread of infection “is not possible” and it is “challenging” for staff to monitor patients.
