Responding to the Liberal Democrats plan on ambulance handovers and corridor care, RCN Acting General Secretary and Chief Executive, Professor Nicola Ranger, said:
"Corridor care is a national emergency and ending it needs to be a priority for politicians in this election. Patients are being treated in inappropriate settings across the NHS, including waiting rooms and store cupboards - it's absolutely unacceptable.
"Eradicating corridor care means revealing how widespread it is through mandatory national reporting. We must see specific instances, such as being left on a chair for more than 24 hours, become NHS ‘Never Events’. These are the commitments nursing staff want to hear from politicians.
“Right now, there are tens of thousands of vacant nursing posts in the NHS and eye-watering staff shortages in social care. To end corridor care for good, we desperately need to see a fully funded plan to grow the nursing workforce, including in preventative and outside hospital services. That’s how to ease the pressures on acute settings and ensure patients receive care closer to home.”
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