Trust that banned corridor care ‘reluctantly’ brings it back

An acute trust has announced the ‘reluctant’ return of ‘corridor care’ – having previously eradicated the unsafe practice – due to extreme ambulance handover delays and other emergency pressures.

Last year, University Hospitals North Midlands Trust chief executive Tracy Bullock said the trust had been “resisting” placing patients in corridors as it “brought significant patient safety and staff wellbeing issues”. This was despite the trust having large numbers of handover delays, being singled out for criticism by the ambulance service, and ‘corridor care’ being commonplace in many other acute hospitals amid severe bed pressures. 

The trust had successfully eliminated the practice several years earlier, because of these issues.

However, at its board meeting today, the trust confirmed the practice was formally introduced at its Royal Stoke site on the day of the ambulance staff strike (21 December) because it was “holding more ambulances than we deem acceptable”.

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Source: HSJ, 4 January 2023