Wiltshire hospital chief says 'corridor care' happens at high pressure times

The Chief Executive of hospital's in Wiltshire and Bath has responded to a damning report on the NHS in England.

The Royal College of Nursing's report found patients are dying in corridors and sometimes go undiscovered for hours, saying some people are sitting in chairs for days - because of the lack of beds.

The “harrowing” report tells of patients sitting for days in chairs – so-called “chair care” – due to a lack of beds, patients piling up in corridors, delays to treatment and the elderly unable to get help due to no call bells and not enough staff.

The RCN called for immediate Government action to end “corridor care”, which it says has become normalised and is not just occurring in the winter months.

Cara Charles-Barks admitted that patients at Salisbury District, Great Western and Royal United in Bath are treated in corridors in times of high pressure.

In her statement, she stressed that this care was carried out by 'experienced staff' in an effort to offload patients from ambulances.

The Chief Executive's full statement: “On rare occasions, and only when under pressure, the hospitals in Bath and Wiltshire will care for some lower risk patients in corridors. The care provided is overseen by experienced staff and under medical supervision.

"Care is provided in corridors in order to enable incoming patients to be off loaded from ambulances. Reducing the time it takes to off load patients from ambulances enables the ambulance teams to be back on the road and serving our community as quickly as possible.”

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