A&E CORRIDORS OF CHAOS
In one hospital, a picture of shambles in Casualty: elderly on trollies, 33 beds for 95 patients . . . and ‘corridor nurses’
THESE are the worrying scenes in the A&E unit of one of the country’s topperforming hospitals.
At one point last week there were 95 seriously ill patients waiting to be seen, but only 33 beds. Mothers sat on the floor with babies on their laps while the elderly queued up on trolleys and in wheelchairs.
Managers at the Royal Blackburn hospital in Lancashire have even resorted to appointing designated ‘corridor nurses’ to take care of all the patients waiting without a bed.
Doctors say they are ‘taking too many risks’ by sending patients home early, and nurses report conditions as ‘dangerous’ and ‘frightening’.
The images were filmed by the BBC last Sunday and Monday after it was granted rare access by the hospital’s chief executive Kevin McGee as part of the corporation’s week of special coverage on the NHS. It is unusual for a media organisation to be given fly-on-the-wall facilities.
‘We are taking too many risks’
One doctor was filmed indirectly asking the Government to take action over the NHS, while another appeared to be on the verge of quitting.
A&E units across England are in the grip of one of the busiest winters on record, and doctors say conditions have never been so bad. The problems have been blamed on a lack of social care funding, with elderly patients becoming trapped in hospital unable to go home, creating a shortage of beds.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has urged patients to avoid exacerbating the problem by avoiding A&E if they aren’t seriously ill. Theresa May has criticised GPs for not opening their surgeries for long enough, forcing patients to go to emergency departments both during the week and out of hours. Blackburn’s A&E unit is one of the busiest in the North West. On a typical day last week about 545 patients arrived through its doors.
It is one of only 40 per cent in the country to have been rated as ‘good’ by the Care Quality Commission watchdog. Most are described as either ‘ requiring improvement’ or ‘inadequate’, suggesting the situation in other casualty departments may be worse.
The Royal Blackburn, run by East Lancashire NHS trust, has been particularly hard- hit since the Chorley hospital’s A&E 13 miles away was downgraded to an urgent care centre last April due to a shortage of doctors.
It was upgraded in the middle of last month back into an A&E unit, but it is open only 12 hours a day, from 8am to 8pm. Dr Khalid Haq, one of Blackburn’s consultants in emergency medicine, said he had never known a department to be so busy in his 26-year career. He added: ‘The problem is we are taking too many risks now. We are sending home patients we shouldn’t be sending. We’ve got nowhere to put them. It’s dangerous. We need more staff and we need more space. There will be patients here from six to eight hours and we can’t find a bed for them.’ Several of the hospital’s corridors have been labelled in a similar way to wards – with ‘red corridor‘ and ‘blue corridor’ signs on the wall – suggesting it is commonplace for patients to be left there.
On Sunday night, the computer screen telling patients the average waiting time read 13hrs 52mins.
Dr Helen Turner, another consultants, said she had gone home one night at 11pm having referred a patient to be admitted on to a ward, only to find him still waiting 12 hours later. ‘ It was upsetting because you know it’s not the care that you would want your own family to receive,’ she said. Nurse Rachael Thompson added: ‘The past three months we’ve been risking our jobs, because we’ve been working under such pressure. We’re coming in every night worrying about what’s coming in. It’s scary.’
Former health minister, Lib Dem MP Norman Lamb, said: ‘There is now an avalanche of bad news showing hospitals across the country, are struggling to cope.’
Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth added: ‘Ministers simply cannot keep dismissing the reality of what is happening to the NHS when millions of people can see for themselves the scale of the crisis on their TV screens.’
Mr McGee said: ‘Hospitals across the country at times experience severe pressure with a high number of very poorly patients requiring A&E services and admittance to a hospital ward for further treatment.
‘Patient safety is our No 1 priority and while we do not want to have patients waiting on trolleys in corridors, when this does happen at times of high demand, nurses continue to look after these patients, ensuring they are safely cared for at all times while in the department.’
Graham Holden, from Burnley, posted a video on Facebook last month showing chaotic scenes in Blackburn’s A&E. He wrote: ‘I’m in a corridor. I’ve counted 20 trolleys with people waiting for beds.’
. . . and mums with babies left to sit on floor