Funds squeeze aggravates patients' plight at UK hospitals

London: Patients are being left lying on trolleys for up to 24 hours because hospitals are alarmingly short of beds, the union representing Britain's nurses has claimed.

Pressure on beds is so great that some people end up being treated in corridors, especially in accident and emergency (AE) departments, according to a survey of 1,246 UK nurses and health care assistants belonging to the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) who look after some of the sickest patients.

The findings have prompted warnings that NHS care is deteriorating due to a financial squeeze, rising demand and falling bed numbers. One in five (21 per cent) of nurses said they saw patients receiving care in corridors or other areas not designed for providing treatment every day, though 4 per cent said it occurred hourly. Emergency departments are the worst affected. Just over half (51 per cent) of the emergency department nurses said their patients were cared for in these places, while almost one in five (18 per cent) said that it occurred hourly in their AE.

Safety concerns

Patients' safety is being compromised by keeping them in such locations, four out of five nurses (79 per cent) believe. "Treating patients in corridors or in areas not designed for care is a high-risk strategy which can have a serious impact on patient care," said Dr Peter Carter, the RCN's general-secretary and chief executive. "Patients need to be able to interact with staff, to be able to reach call bells and to know they are visible. They also need regular monitoring and easy access to equipment if their condition deteriorates."

Worrying picture

The survey "paints a worrying picture of what is happening in our hospitals", Carter said, warning that the funds crunch risked pushing the NHS to its state in the mid-90s when such incidents were not uncommon.

Just under half of nurses (48 per cent) in the survey said they had seen patients either being cared for or being asked to wait to be cared for on a trolley for a long time in the last six months. While the patients' average waiting time was six hours and 23 minutes, 5 per cent of nurses had seen patients having to endure a wait of more than a day on a trolley.

— Guardian News & Media Ltd