RCN survey: “Harrowing” corridor care testimony reveals a government leaving staff with “hands tied behind their backs”

EMBARGO: 00.01 Thursday 16th January

Responding to a Royal College of Nursing survey which shows that two-thirds of NHS nursing staff are saying they are delivering care in over-crowded or unsuitable places such as corridors, converted cupboards and even car parks on a daily basis, Liberal Democrat Health and Social Care spokesperson Helen Morgan MP said:

“This report is harrowing. To think that patients are receiving desperately needed care in car parks and dying patients are being left to fend for themselves in corridors should make us sick to our stomachs.

“The government has left staff fighting this crisis with their hands tied behind their backs. Ministers' failure to take any meaningful action to limit this suffering is shocking.

“The Conservative Party’s legacy of NHS neglect was beyond shameful but we now need to see Ministers get their act together and finally take steps to bring an end to this catastrophic situation. 

“The Health Secretary must produce an emergency plan to get more beds into hospitals to return bed occupancy rates to safe levels and to bring forward a pandemic-style emergency recruitment campaign to bring staff out of retirement and back into the workforce.”

ENDS