NHS nurse lays bare grim reality of A&E today as man dies in his wheelchair An A&E unit was so crammed doctors were unable to reach and resuscitate a man in a wheelchair who suffered a cardiac arrest, a nurse said.
And the nurse adds: "Even the corridor was filled to capacity with patients on trolleys, in wheelchairs and waiting room chairs, along with their relatives and other ‘walking wounded’ patients, all trying to navigate their way to and from the vending machine at the far end.
"It was – and is – inhumane, but then I could use that word to describe a lot of what is unfolding in our emergency departments these days and in which corridor nursing, which should really only be used in exceptional circumstances, has become a daily reality without which A&E departments couldn’t function at all," the health professional says.
The nurse, who wants to remain anonymous, told how corridors are often full at their Greater London hospital with patients waiting for - or receiving - treatment.
Mental heath patients have breakdowns, equipment is tired and patients are struggling to get oxygen in the nurse's hospital, they say.
