I’m an A&E nurse – and in my hospital right now, we can’t give patients the dignified care they need (The Guardian, 20 January 2025)

Summary

"Injured people are being seen in viewing rooms for dead bodies. I love my job, but I don’t know how much longer I can cope."

Susie (not her real name) is a senior nurse in an A&E ward at a London hospital. In this Guardian article she describes the conditions she is working in.

Content

"In the London hospital I work in, patients brought in on trolleys are often left for hours in an indoor ambulance bay with an automatic sliding door that opens on to the elements. While they wait for a bed, some are attended to in our viewing room for dead bodies. It’s the only private place left. Everyone knows that “care” is taking place in completely unsuitable parts of a hospital, yet there is no transparent data made available on how many patients are affected, how long their treatment lasts in these inappropriate places and the extent of the harm being done. Wes Streeting and NHS leaders should commit to publishing this data immediately."

Related reading on the hub:

• Royal College of Nursing: On the frontline of the UK’s corridor care crisis
• Patient Safety Learning's response to RCN report: On the frontline of the UK’s corridor care crisis
• A silent safety scandal: A nurse’s first-hand account of a corridor nursing shift