New guidance for the use of temporary escalation spaces, including corridors and other unplanned settings has been issued by NHS England (NHSE). It tells trusts to monitor patient harm caused by corridor care this winter.
This is a first step to acting on the issue and follows campaigning from the RCN on corridor care, with the guidance referencing our report showing the detrimental impact of this care setting on patients and staff, and calling for its total eradication.
Our report revealed more than 1 in 3 (37%) nursing staff working in typical hospital settings delivered care in inappropriate settings, such as corridors, on their last shift. Our survey of almost 11,000 frontline nursing staff across the UK shows the extent to which corridor care has been normalised.
As part of the investigation commissioned by Health Secretary Wes Streeting and led by Lord Darzi to assess the state of the NHS in England, our evidence asked to eradicate corridor care, with mandatory reporting on each instance through the NHS Standard Contract.
A letter was published along with NHSE’s guidance, setting out priorities for the coming winter. It says systems should consider reporting the number of patients in these settings, and said trusts need to monitor the risks of potential harm, the actual harm that has occurred and the impact on patients.
The letter also says trusts must ensure care outside of normal cubicles or ward environments is not normalised and only used in times of elevated pressure. Plus, it should always be escalated to an appropriate member of the executive and at a system level.
Although we welcome this move, we also believe the NHSE announcement doesn’t go far enough. Patricia Marquis, Executive Director for RCN England, said: "Nursing staff raised the alarm over treating patients in corridors and the system is beginning to respond.
"Clear reporting should be mandatory, not optional, if the NHS is going to get a grip on this emergency situation. No patient deserves the indignity of care in such inappropriate locations.
"Good care costs but poor care costs more. In the upcoming budget [30 October], the government must invest to get the NHS through this winter safely.”
Don’t allow corridor care to become normalised, call it out. Find out more about how to raise a concern.
