Ambulance service hopeful shares experience of corridor care overcrowding
Hannah Mickleburgh-Gardham nears completion of her paramedic apprenticeship.
At just 24 years old, Hannah Mickleburgh-Gardham is approaching the completion of her paramedic degree apprenticeship with the University of Cumbria.
Hannah shared her insights into the current situation in accident and emergency departments, highlighting the issue of corridor care.
"The A and E's are really really overloaded at the minute and we're not finding space within the hospitals," Hannah said.
"When we get to hospitals there are delays, so we're stuck.
"Then there's no space in wards, then people can't be discharged from the wards and people can't be discharged from wards because in social care settings, so people that need carers etc, there's none available.
"It just backs and backs up."
She further explained how the strain affects primary care, as overloaded GPs lead to increased emergency calls.
"We do get a lot of primary care jobs in that sense. GPs are overloaded as well, so then people can't get appointments at the minute, so they then call us and it creates this vicious circle.
"We go to somebody and it's like 'oh I can't get an appointment with my GP so I just rang 999 or 111' and that's why we've had to go out.
"It's about making them aware of different pathways that are available. For example, minor injuries, that's a brilliant service that's really underused for a lot of different things."
Age UK's analysis for the year 2024/25 has revealed alarming figures regarding the long waiting times faced by older patients in A&E.
The data shows more than 100,000 instances where individuals over 65 faced waits of between one to three days after a decision to admit them had been made.
The analysis highlighted that in over half (54,000) of these cases, the patients were aged 80 and above.
Regarding corridor care the Government's website states: "This Government is committed to tackling the unacceptable practice of corridor care in our NHS. Our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan, published in June, set out steps we are taking, including the commitment to publish data on the prevalence of corridor care.
"NHS England has been working with trusts since 2024 to put in place new reporting arrangements related to the use of corridor care, to drive improvement."