NURSES in Northern Ireland have spoken of the shocking conditions facing patients and staff in hospital corridors.
A new report from the Royal College of Nursing said it was now beyond question that patients were dying in corridors across the UK, and heard testimony from over 5,000 nursing staff including many from Northern Ireland.
Nearly seven in ten (66.7%) said they were delivering care in over-crowded or unsuitable places on a daily basis, including corridors, converted cupboards and even car parks.
Nine in ten also said they believed patient safety was being compromised with issues like a lack of access to oxygen and cardiac equipment.
Among multiple nurses in Northern Ireland hospitals sharing their testimony, one said: “We have had patients in corridor beds who are dying or at end of life and we have had to rely on other patients to give up their room for us to move end of life or even septic patients in.”
Another said: “Recently a patient was being nursed in the corridor and became acutely unwell. It turned out he had a leaking AAA (Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm) and ended up passing away.”
As well as pressure from senior management to treat staff in corridors, the testimony also reveals serious concerns about infection control.
“Patient had norovirus. No access to their own toilet. Had to use commode behind screen,” a nurse said.
“Total lack of dignity. Patient was more stressed about the setting than the physical symptoms.”
Another commented: “I had to change an incontinent, frail patient with dementia on the corridor, by the vending machine.”
One nurse treating patients in the corridors of a busy, colorectal surgical ward said: “I feel like a terrible nurse and I am so embarrassed and ashamed that this is how I am forced to give care.”
Feeling “set up to fail,” she complained to senior management and was told she was being “fussy.”
“I feel like I have no support and it makes me very upset and I go home feeling like a terrible person.”
Describing the moral injury many health workers face, one nurse spoke of losing sleep and their love for the job.
“It’s affecting our family lives because we are so unhappy in our work environment and we take it home.
“A lot of people are drinking alcohol more often to cope. I worry for the nursing future, I worry for our department and I worry for the patients. People are getting bad news and left to sit in a noisy waiting room. No time to reflect and react.”
RCN Northern Ireland Executive Director, Professor Rita Devlin, said it was one of the “most shocking reports” of nurses experiences she had ever seen.
“Most of the nurses quoted in the Northern Ireland report talk about a complete absence of privacy and dignity and very poor infection control. The fact that we have people who are at end of life being cared for in these circumstances is horrifying.
“It is clear that those staff trying to treat patients in these conditions are themselves experiencing a severe impact on their own mental health. This is not something we signed up to when we trained as nursing staff.”