BCUHB A&E nurse speaks out on 'undignified' corridor care

Rhyl Journal

08-05-2025

The Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) employee, who cannot be named, is backing the petition launched by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and the British Medical Association (BMA) in Wales to address the "alarming" state of corridor care in hospitals and healthcare services.
Both unions are urging the Welsh Government to take "immediate action" to end the practice of treating patients in corridors, chairs and waiting areas and are asking the public to sign the petition.
They say nurses and doctors are being "forced" to treat patients in "inappropriate and undignified" environments which puts them at risk of "significant" harm.
The nurse, who has worked for the same hospital for 20 years and works mainly in A&E, said: "I always feel guilty myself about putting the patients in the corridor because I want my patient to have treatment but... sometimes it is the only choice we have rather than sending them back to the waiting area without any treatment or putting them in the corridor where there is an area where they can have antibiotics or whatever treatment we need to give the patient.
"It demoralises the staff. Staff are having low morale. As a nurse, this is against my principals.
"I want to provide a very high standard of care and I want my patient safe. I want them to have the treatment they deserve but if the patient is in the corridor, or in the area which is not a clinical designated area, then they don't get any of that.
"Everything that is discussed is being heard by other patients and some really ill patients, some that are short of breath or are confused, their dignity is compromised because they have no privacy in that area. Everyone can see. Everyone is there - some patients with mental health problems, some really unwell, some patients in police custody.
"I think that if I was the patient myself, I would probably feel so uncomfortable.
"Because our patient has no choice but to sit there, particularly those who are really unwell, they just take it. I think we should scrap that and the only way we can eradicate this is for everyone to get involved in this petition.
"This corridor care is unacceptable and undignified and should not be happening at all."
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The nurse added: "I think everyone should be involved in this petition, not just nurses and doctors, but patients as they are the ones who are affected here.
"We, as nurses, are affected by this as we don't want to do this - we know it is unsafe, people are dying, people are not receiving enough care that they should received. When you are really unwell, we all deserve the best treatment to get well very soon."
The nurse believes that corridor care can become a "thing of the past" but admits there is "no quick fix".
The petition, which can be signed here, is calling on the Welsh Government to:
Helen Whyley, Executive Director of RCN Wales, said: 'We are beyond breaking point. I have travelled across Wales and witnessed people in pain, confused and frightened, with no privacy, no dignity, and no proper care environment.
'Treating patients in corridors and other inappropriate areas is not nursing – it is crisis management in a system that is failing."
Stephen Kelly, chair of the BMA's Welsh Consultants Committee said: 'When a patient is not placed in a bed space there's a chance something vital may be missed, there's no access to monitoring equipment and no privacy to carry out certain procedures.
'This is dangerous and is putting patients' lives at risk, we urge the Welsh Government to work with us to put a stop to this practice.
'We're extremely concerned that the 'normalising' of seeing patients in completely inappropriate spaces will mean that patients come to significant harm which is hugely distressing for patients but also NHS staff."
A spokesperson for the Welsh Government said: "We do not endorse routine care in non-clinical environments where patient privacy or dignity is compromised. However, there are occasions when the NHS faces exceptional pressures during high demand periods.
'Never events are recorded in the NHS as wholly preventable medical errors with the potential to cause serious harm, therefore the call to classify care for patients in chairs for more than 24 hours as a 'never event' does not meet the criteria, given the complex nature of causes.
'We've provided £200m additional funding this year to improve home care and hospital discharge timelines to address these challenges, which are not unique to Wales."
Darren Millar, leader of the Welsh Conservatives and Clwyd West MS, said: "I fully support the RCN's campaign. The situation in our emergency departments is unacceptable, causing harm to patients, and putting undue pressure on hardworking NHS staff.
'We need urgent action from the Welsh Government to get to grips with this situation once and for all yet ministers seem completely incapable of improving things.
'One of the reasons we are experiencing these problems is that don't have enough beds in our local hospitals.
"That is why it is essential that the Welsh Labour Government finally delivers the new hospital in Rhyl that it promised 13 years ago.'