Responding to the new figures from the Liberal Democrats, RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive Professor Nicola Ranger, said:  

“These figures only begin to scratch the surface - the NHS and the UK Government must begin to disclose the true scale of the problem if they’re serious about eradicating it. A single patient waiting for more than 24 hours in unacceptable, tens of thousands waiting shows why corridor care must be eradicated. It is undignified and unsafe, and now a year-round crisis.  

"Nursing staff are the key to solving the crisis in corridor care. They deal with the devastating consequences of treating patients on corridors every single day. 

“However, student and international recruitment into nursing is in freefall and there is a retention crisis in the nursing workforce. Without urgently solving these, the government’s ambition of shifting care from hospitals to community and to reduce demand on the NHS will not be deliverable.  

“Only game-changing investment in community services, boosting the number of hospital beds, and solving the crisis in the nursing workforce will begin to eradicate corridor care. It starts with government announcing this year’s pay award, which is already late, and must deliver a fair pay rise for nursing.”

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