NHS bid to end corridor care could leave patients trapped in hospital car park

An NHS bid to end corridor care could leave patients trapped in hospital's car parks.

Jason Killens, the chief executive of the London Ambulance Service, has warned that effort to eliminate long waits in A&E could result in patients being placed in even more danger.

His warning follows the Government's promise to eliminate the practice of corridor care - where patients spend at least 45 minutes being treated in inappropriate settings.

Mr Killens, who is also the chairman of the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE), told The Telegraph: "We need good flow through not just the emergency department but the entirety of the hospital, so we don’t get the bottleneck at the emergency department, we don’t get bottlenecks in the corridor and we don’t get bottlenecks in the car park."

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He warned that the consequences of removing corridor care could be the most dangerous for more vulnerable patients such as the elderly.

"I'm not saying corridor care is great. I don't want it. It's not dignified. It’s not a good care setting. But it is less risky than someone with nothing around them for very long periods of time," he said.

Figures, released by the Government last month for the very first time, showed that nearly 3,000 patients had to be cared for in either hospital corridors or makeshift treatment areas in England last month.

And now, emails by the West Midlands Ambulance Service have sounded the alarm to the back of ambulances being used to provide care.

Officials have warned that "too often the back of an ambulance stuck outside an ED have been used as surrogates for a ward bed within a receiving hospital trust as a means of reducing corridor care".

Records indicate the trust was the worst affected by handover delays in the country - with more than 3,500 ambulance stuck outside hospitals, rather than responding to new 999 calls.

Officials warned in March that the monitoring of corridor care "left more patients in the back of ambulances".

University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire Trust (UHCW) had no patients treated in corridors - but ambulances were used to provide "car park care".

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In March, NHS England, set out to "virtually eliminate corridor care", and in June James Murray said the practice was "unacceptable, undignified and had no place in our NHS".

Delays in handovers have risen sharply in recent months, with average times of more than 28 minutes in May, up from 26 minutes in April.

The longest delays were recorded in the West Midlands, where handovers on average took 58 minutes and 57 seconds in May - up form 40 minutes and 45 seconds in March.

A WMAS spokesman said: "Handover delays remain one of our biggest challenges, and we continue to work closely with hospital partners to reduce them.

"We fully support efforts to eliminate corridor care, but improvements in patient flow must reduce delays throughout the system rather than result in more patients waiting to be handed over in ambulances outside hospital.

"Our staff will always provide appropriate care to patients while they remain in our vehicles, but they are legally required to work within their scope of practice. Prompt handovers ensure patients receive the most appropriate care as quickly as possible and enable our ambulances to return to responding to emergencies in the community."

A UHCW spokesman said: "Patient safety across the whole emergency care pathway is our top priority, including patients waiting in the community.

"We utilise additional temporary space in our ED waiting rooms, assessment areas and wards to facilitate the release of ambulances. This is done in line with the standards of care expected for patients in temporary spaces, which therefore does not constitute 'corridor care' under NHS's definition.

“We continue to look at all opportunities with WMAS to ensure ambulances are released as quickly as possible, particularly at times of heightened demand."

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