Corridor patients’ dignity a concern for inspectors
PATIENT safety and dignity could be compromised if patients continue to be treated in non-clinical areas of hospitals like corridors, inspectors have warned.
Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (HIW) visited 27 wards in 20 NHS hospitals in 2016-17 to find out whether or not safe, effective care was being provided.
Despite the “very real challenges” facing health boards and acute hospitals, and the complexity of how services are delivered, inspectors said most patients surveyed had positive experiences of their stay.
They said they found plenty of examples of good patient-centred care being provided by “committed staff”, and noted strong leadership at management level.
But there were several areas where inspectors felt “immediate improvement” was needed.
One of their main concerns was the fact some patients in A&E units needed to be cared for in corridors or other non-clinical parts of the ward due to high demands.
The report states: “A number of the improvements identified regarding the provision of dignified care related to emergency departments.
“This was due to the need for better ‘flow’ and monitoring of patients. Specifically, health boards were required to make improvements to such services to prevent the need for patients to receive care on trolleys in corridors and other areas away from designated cubicles, or assessment and treatment areas.”
Inspectors also said patient identification wristbands were not always used, which could have led to medication errors.
And they concluded that some NHS staff lacked understanding of the Mental Capacity Act (2005) which meant that patients’ human rights were not always upheld.
“We also found that the provision of bilingual information and the ability of patients to discuss their health needs in Welsh was inconsistent across health boards,” the report states.
In a small number of cases, inspectors said patients had to wait longer than expected for staff to answer the buzzers on their hospital beds.
While patients’ rights were promoted and protected in the vast majority of cases, inspectors said there were occasions when discussions could be overheard which “had the potential to compromise patient confidentiality and cause distress to others.”
Commenting on the report, HIW’s chief executive, Dr Kate Chamberlain, said: “Our report recognises the hard work and commitment of staff working across the NHS in Wales.
“While many patients have a positive experience of NHS hospital care, more work is needed to address a number of long-standing issues that undermine the delivery of safe effective care.”
In response, a Welsh Government spokesman said: “We welcome HIW’s report, which shows our hardworking NHS staff are delivering safe and effective care to patients and their families.
“However, there is still room for improvement, and we expect NHS organisations to take quick and robust action to address HIW’s findings.”