Hospital advertises ‘corridor care’ shifts amid pressure on A&E
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A hospital has posted adverts calling for nurses to take on 12-hour “corridor care” shifts amid “very significant pressure” in its A&E department. Whittington Hospital in Archway, north London, posted bank shifts available for A&E nurses which said “corridor care” in the notes, The Sunday Times reported.
It comes as several NHS trusts declared critical incidents because of sustained pressure in A&E departments, with people being treated in corridors and a patient at one hospital forced to wait 50 hours to be admitted to a ward. Some hospitals have restricted visitor numbers while others are encouraging people to wear surgical masks to limit the spread of viruses.
Whittington Health NHS Trust said it is experiencing “very significant pressure” in its urgent and emergency care. “In these circumstances we may have to provide care in corridors, as an absolute last resort,” a trust spokesperson said. “In common with other hospitals, where this is necessary we bring in additional staff on a temporary basis to ensure that care can be delivered as safely and compassionately as possible to patients.”.
It comes after NHS England figures showed more than a third (35.4%) of ambulance patients at Whittington Hospital waited more than 30 minutes to be handed to A&E teams last week. Ian Higginson, a consultant in emergency medicine and the vice president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, shared a screenshot of a “corridor RN” bank shift on X, formerly Twitter.
