Hospital patients being treated in corridors

Until we are prepared to pay more in taxes it won't get better? I know some bad things happen, but its so good to hear some gratitude? We are still so fortunate still in the UK. We do take an awful lot for granted. Good O/P.

I think the thing they most need to sort out asap are the communications systems, (letters arriving late, or not at all, better joined up communications, and so on) that would make a real difference.

Kate1949

We sat on small, hard, plastic chairs for 21 hours with my husband periodically being sick into a bowl (sorry). No it's not normal and acceptable but what are they supposed to do? It wasn't a trolley, it was a hospital bed, clean and comfortable.

Not the fault of the staff, I am not blaming them.
The fault of successive Governments.

Obviously, it was nice when she was "settled " properly into a bed space...

And yes, we should have more bed spaces!

Kate1949, my mother-in-law also had great care in a corridor.
It wasn't a main thoroughfare but was definitely a corridor.

It was not how you think of it at all.

I guess there's an element of who the person is involved - I'd be there thinking "Bright corridor - how do I sleep?" "Lots of people going past - how do I sleep?" "Tea (coffee in my case) and toast for breakfast" Agh - bet it's instant coffee and sliced supermarket bread too - ie nothing for breakfast then..hungry!".

So there's that element too - ie what some people will put up others would be having photos taken/complaining/etc.

Goodness knows and parts of the country do vary - and where I am right now = the first thing I'd be doing is booking a long distance taxi fare elsewhere (as I've heard such bad tales of what is happening here in Welsh hospitals - even that major hospital in Cardiff for goodness sake - downright unhygienic and needs knocking down and replacing it's that bad).

Sitting for several hours in A & E is appalling - but I've heard of a lot lot worse than that and that's assuming that all A & Es are 24/7 in the first place (and some of them aren't even that....).

If the doctors go on strike next week as they plan, this will only get worse.

I'd be more worried about privacy, no curtains so if they need to examine you does everyone get a good luck, if you aren't well enough to get up how do they manage bedpans?

Oldfrill. He's fine now thank you. We never gave the corridor a thought. It was clean, comfortable and he was being looked after. That's all that mattered to us. When you've sat in A&E for several hours, who knows what other patients are there with. I'm sure you could catch anything. We were grateful to be seen.

Knowing a patient with a awful virus is treated in a busy public corridor, chatting to others, isn't reassuring to me.
I hope your husband is improving well.

We sat on small, hard, plastic chairs for 21 hours with my husband periodically being sick into a bowl (sorry). No it's not normal and acceptable but what are they supposed to do? It wasn't a trolley, it was a hospital bed, clean and comfortable.

Unless you are ignored and die, like the poor man in the news this evening.

Lying on a trolley might not be so bad if you are in fact triaged and cared for, but sitting on a small, hard, plastic chair for 36 hours can lead to blood clots in the legs. You can also be pushed into a cupboard and forgotten, both have happened to people I know.

It is undignified, not to mention potentially dangerous.

What have we come to when we think this is normal and acceptable? It really is not.

Yes indeed but the point I was trying to make is that being treated in a corridor is not so bad.

The staff are wonderful and do their best but its a lottery where you live and the treatment you receive down to sheer numbers.

Yes - this time last year my husband was in A&E with sepsis, it was 2-3 days before he got moved to a ward, but his care was wonderful, and of course because of the high staff levels they noticed very quickly when things were going wrong.