A&E corridor ‘utterly normalised’ at NHS hospitals in England, senior doctor says
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Emergency medicine consultant’s comments come as north London hospital posts specific ad for corridor care nurses. A senior doctor in emergency medicine has said “almost every hospital is treating patients in corridors and car parks” after a hospital posted adverts calling for nurses to take on 12-hour “corridor care” shifts.
Responding to “very significant pressure” in its A&E department, Whittington hospital in north London posted bank shifts available for A&E nurses which said “corridor care” in the notes. Sharing a screenshot of the advert on X, Ian Higginson, a consultant in emergency medicine and the vice-president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said “corridor nurses and care in corridors utterly normalised [this is an advert for a corridor nurse but sadly it’s nothing new].”.
He also said sustained pressure on A&E departments would continue. “Don’t be fooled as critical incidents stood down: they’ll be back,” he said. “Almost every hospital is treating patients in corridors and car parks.”. MPs wrote to the health secretary, Wes Streeting, last week asking for his action plan to help 14 hospitals declaring critical incidents due to “exceptionally high” demand. The Gloucestershire acute trust said on Wednesday that it was preparing to cancel operations, urgently discharge 140 patients and restrict admissions to help it cope with “extreme winter pressures”.
Hospitals in Northamptonshire, Cornwall, Liverpool, Hampshire, Birmingham, Plymouth and the Wirral have all declared critical incidents. South Warwickshire University NHS foundation trust said on Wednesday that visits to A&E in the last week had “been consistently some of the highest” ever experienced.
