By Democrat reporter
Dumbarton Constituency MSP Jackie Baillie has backed nurses after they revealed how they are often left “disgusted and ashamed” by the care they provide.
The comments were revealed in a report this week by the Royal College of Nursing which laid bare the corridor care crisis facing all hospitals in the UK, including those in Scotland.
The nurses’ professional body surveyed 5,400 UK nurses – around 500 of them Scots’ nurses – to produce the 460 page report, containing harrowing accounts of hospital care.
One nurse from Scotland revealed how a patient had a cardiac arrest in a corridor, while another told how a doubly incontinent elderly patient had to be moved into a charge nurse’s office to be cleaned, because it was the only private space available.
In a particularly harrowing recollection, one Scottish nurse tells how they had been forced to watch patients have a cardiac arrest and even die in the middle of a four-bedded bay which had additional beds crammed down the centre.
The face of an exhausted nurse working in the critical setting of Scotland’s NHS
The insider said they felt unable to provide basic dignity and care and told how patients affected did not have access to built-in oxygen and instead had to rely on tanks which run out within two hours.
It was revealed that patients also had to wait on oxygen when portable tanks were not refilled or changed quickly enough, due to ward and hospital demand.
Others told how patients were “overlooked” and recounted the “extremely challenging” position of attempting to provide toileting and personal care while “trying to maintain dignity”.
A&E nurses told how they were seeing and examining patients in corridors on a “daily” basis and faced having patients “on trolleys in corridors overnight and for extended periods”.
One hospital saw six to eight patients placed in an A&E room overnight as there were no beds remaining. The room had no emergency provision and was not kitted out with any equipment at all.
One nurse told how their ward had 31 beds despite only being funded for 27 and then had two extra beds placed in a multi-bay, without any extra staff.
The clinician also revealed that conditions had given rise to such unsafe situations that one patient had fallen out of a bed, had a seizure and “hurt himself pretty bad”.
The report also revealed that one Scottish hospital provided corridor care for a patient who was being transferred from the High Dependency Unit – where more seriously unwell patients received a higher level of observation and treatment.
Nurses also told how observations were missed and discovery of the deteriorating conditions of patients delayed, because they were being nursed in the corridor.
It was also reported by one nurse in a receiving department left with 45 patients – some of whom were extremely ill – and a team of just seven, including two doctors, that when management were advised the department was “dangerously unsafe”, they were told nothing could be done as “its winter” and “going to be busy”.
Staff also revealed that patients often became “deeply” distressed, while staff were left “embarrassed”.
Some highlighted how they were forced to put “Scottish Government targets before patients” and confirmed that patients are deteriorating and corridors and their condition going unnoticed because “staff are too busy”.
The damning report also outlined how one nurse felt that “something needs to be done as this is now being seen as ‘normal practice’.
Jackie Baillie, also Scottish Labour’s Health spokesperson, reacted to the report, saying: “My constituency office regularly handles complaints from hardworking staff and residents who have faced unacceptable delays or waits for care.
“I have raised their concerns over a number of months but this is confirmation of how bad the situation has been allowed to get.
“This harrowing report is a reminder of how far standards have fallen on the SNP’s watch.
Dame Jackie Baillie, First Minister John Swinney and Health Secretary Neil Gray.
“Our nurses are as hard-working and committed as ever, but they cannot defend the NHS against the SNP’s mismanagement forever.
“This account of their experiences on a daily basis, reveals just how soul-destroying the profession must have become for them.”
She added: “John Swinney has already sidelined his Cabinet Secretary for Health, Neil Gray, due to his incompetence but what patients want is to receive swift and dignified treatment rather than end up languishing in hospital corridors.
“The SNP have failed staff and patients for long enough. We need a change of direction and Scottish Labour is ready to deliver it.”