John Swinney has apologised "unreservedly" for patients being treated in hospital corridors. Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar raised a recent report during First Minister's Questions which found that overcrowding in Scotland's hospitals had led to more than half of emergency departments treating patients in corridors. The First Minister acknowledged the NHS is under pressure but he blamed covid and Brexit.
He also said Labour would make the situation worse. The Royal College of Emergency Medicine's report showed 45 per cent of patients treated in emergency departments didn't have access to a private cubicle. It showed that 14 of the 21 emergency departments in Scotland had treated patients in corridors.
The royal college also estimated 1,000 deaths have occurred because of delayed treatment so far this year. Sarwar said in Holyrood on Thursday afternoon: "Our NHS faces a national crisis in what is known as corridor care, where patients are treated on trollies in corridors because there simply are not enough beds in wards for them. "This week the Royal College of Emergency Medicine published new analysis, which found that on average 45 per cent of patients treated in emergency departments didn't have access to a private cubicle.
"In their words: 'When no cubicle is available, patients are treated in other areas. Trollies in corridors, cars, the waiting rooms, relative rooms, plaster rooms.' "Imagine you or one of your loved ones lying on a trolley for hours.
No privacy, no d.
