NHS leaders in Wales have drawn attention to corridor care, ahead of a Senedd debate on the issue. They say this is a consequence of system-wide challenges.
NHS leaders have said that treating patients in corridors or other temporary escalation spaces (TES) is unsuitable, undignified and potentially unsafe, highlighting that this is a symptom of wider system pressures, including problems with patient flow, rising demand due to an ageing population and fragility in the social care sector.
According to figures, roughly 15 per cent of beds in Welsh hospitals are occupied by patients who are medically fit to be discharged, but for whom there is no available onwards package of care.
NHS leaders warn that the underlying causes must be fixed to avoid worsening ambulance delays and harming patients elsewhere in the system. They are calling for integrated solutions across health and social care to ensure safe, dignified and timely care for patients.
NHS leaders are calling for social care reform, prevention and early invention, capital investment and workforce planning.
Darren Hughes, director of the Welsh NHS Confederation, said: "NHS leaders and frontline staff work incredibly hard to keep patients safe and work on the root causes of corridor care provision, targeting flow through the system by improving patient discharge, working with local authorities to improve social care support – key in preventing demand – providing alternatives to Emergency Departments (EDs) and prioritising older patients at the ‘front door’ through increased frailty screening.
“But with rising demand and capacity issues across the breadth of the health and care system, demand inadvertently pushes back onto EDs, which are open 24/7. This means NHS staff are sometimes left with no alternative but to make difficult decisions to manage risk.
“No patient should be treated in a corridor, but banning temporary escalation spaces without fixing the root causes will only push the problem elsewhere. NHS leaders don’t want to see ‘corridor care’ replaced by (ambulance) ‘car park care’, exacerbating ambulance handover delays and slowing their response, increasing the risk of harm to patients (with possibly more serious emergencies) in communities.
“We urgently need long-term investment in social care, prevention, capital infrastructure and workforce planning to ensure the NHS can deliver safe, dignified care for everyone who needs it."
