Patients left waiting on trolleys for four days due to ‘unsafe’ staffing levels, report finds

Patients were left on trolleys for up to four days at a major NHS hospital where whistleblowers raised concerns over “unsafe” staffing levels, it has emerged.

In a scathing report, the NHS safety watchdog said it found patients waiting on trolleys, in corridors and outside nursing bays at Good Hope and Heartlands hospital, run by the scandal-hit University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust.

In one incident flagged by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), a patient’s skin ulcers had grown significantly worse while they waited for four days on a trolley without an appropriate mattress. At the time of the inspection, most patients had been waiting for more than two days on trolleys, according to the CQC.

The inspection took place in December, after concerns were raised by patients and families over care. The CQC said staff told inspectors they’d been left in “unsafe situations” due to poor staffing.

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Source: The Independent, 19 April 2023