Responding to the analysis, which shows more than 250 patients died each week last year waiting for a hospital bed, Professor Pat Cullen, RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive said:
“This crisis is taking lives and nursing staff in England’s hospitals are forced to witness it every shift. Go into any hospital, the corridors and cupboards are packed with patients – care is not only undignified but fatally unsafe. One nurse told me a lady had died on a trolley in a corridor and it went unnoticed far too long – that is the current state of our health service.
“Too few staff and not enough beds to admit patients to safely is driving dangerously long waiting times and care in totally inappropriate locations. Nursing staff strain every sinew to hold it together with their colleagues but they now feel set up to fail. A crisis in emergency departments spreads throughout hospitals too.
“Improving outcomes for patients who come through emergency departments requires building capacity throughout the NHS and social care, starting back in primary and community services. But more physical beds need enough highly trained nursing staff to care for the patients in them. The nursing workforce is currently short of tens of thousands and patients desperately need investment to follow.”
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