PATIENTS are being "treated in cupboards and car parks" and "dying in hospital corridors", nurses have warned The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) declared a state of "national emergency" on the NHS over spike in "completely inappropriate" patient care. It revealed patients are being left without access to oxygen and enduring intimate examinations in inappropriate crowded areas. Some are regularly treated on chairs in corridors for extended periods of time, sometimes days, the RCN revealed.
A survey of almost 11,000 frontline nursing staff across the UK shows the practice has become widespread, the union said. When asked about their most recent shift, almost two in five reported delivering care in an inappropriate area, such as a corridor. And almost seven in 10 said the care they delivered in public compromised patient privacy and dignity.
The RCN is now calling for mandatory reporting of patients cared for in corridors, to show the extent of hospital overcrowding. With the union's annual conference in Newport, South Wales , kicking off, acting general secretary Professor Nicola Ranger will use her keynote speech to declare a national emergency over the survey's findings. Prof Ranger will tell the 3,000 conference delegates that the situation is a "tragedy" for the nursing profession.
"Our once world-leading services are treating patients in car parks and store cupboards. "The elderly are languishing on chairs for hours on end and patients are dying in corridors. "The horror o.
