Last week, the Welsh Conservatives brought forward an incredibly important debate on a report published by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) on corridor care.
This report made for some powerful but disappointing reading, highlighting the state and frequency of corridor care in our NHS and sadly it shows just how the Welsh Government has completely lost control of patient care in our hospitals.
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I have said it many times before, the chronic underfunding of our social care, combined with short staffing levels and poor leadership have led to this utterly unacceptable state of affairs.
The RCN published a list of eight recommendations to address this crisis which the Welsh Government must listen to and implement.
These include, ensuring that care delivered to a patient in a chair for more than 24 hours is a “never event”, taking measures to ensure nursing staff feel encouraged to raise safety concerns and invest in social care so that when patients are clinically ready to leave hospital they can move to the best place of care.
This last point in particular will free up beds as many patients are able to leave hospital but are unable to get the care they will need going forward.
The RCN said it best when they said that “corridor care is the obvious and avoidable failure of political will to reform the NHS and social care and invest in its workforce under recent governments.”
Sadly, this is far too true, and it is our healthcare professionals who are dealing with the brunt of this stressful environment.
The report included some harrowing quotes from nurses. One in particular that struck me was a nurse asking, “how is it fair to tell someone they are dying in a corridor?”
This strikes at the heart of the issue. Corridor care is not only dangerous and stressful for both patients and nurses, but it is fundamentally degrading and dehumanising.
No one should have to face care in a corridor, and no one should have to die there.
I am glad the Senedd was able to have this debate but sadly these recommendations have not been accepted.
It is only through working with organisations such as the RCN and drawing on their expertise that we can tackle the epidemic of corridor care and ensure that everyone in Wales can go to hospital knowing they will have a bed and not be forced to wait in a corridor
You can find the full report, “Ending Corridor Care in Wales,” can be found on the RCN Wales website.