The Royal College of Nursing has published a survey about ‘corridor care’ in NHS hospitals.

Saffron Cordery, interim chief executive, NHS Providers, said:

"No one working in the NHS wants to treat patients in corridors.

"This harrowing testimony from frontline nurses shows that they, alongside other NHS staff, are doing their very best to care for patients in incredibly challenging conditions.

"This winter has been brutal for the NHS and trust leaders and their teams are having to adapt and make incredibly difficult decisions based on the situation confronting them.

"Staff work tirelessly, often exhausting every available option, to try and prevent 'corridor care' from happening. They want to provide safe and effective care to patients in an appropriate clinical setting while respecting their privacy and treating them with the dignity and compassion they deserve.

"But with unsustainable levels of pressure across the whole health and care system, particularly A&E departments during the very challenging winter months, and demand for beds outstripping supply, there will be times – as this survey shows - when staff are forced to deliver care outside of wards.

"Trust leaders are acutely aware that staff, many of whom bear the scars from working through the Covid-19 pandemic, feel once again that they can’t provide the care they want to, leading to moral injury.

"It’s clear much more needs to be done to minimise incidents of corridor care now and in the future. Nobody wants to see this normalised."