We are seeing growing evidence of corridor care becoming a permanent fixture in NHS hospitals, with a recent RCN survey emphasising just how bad the situation has become – and how much nursing staff and patients are suffering. Yet despite this horrific escalation of care in inappropriate settings, there are RCN health and safety reps who are bringing about change.

While it is by no means a silver bullet to eradicating corridor care in all settings, some RCN health and safety reps have been able to win lasting change through utilising the power of health and safety legislation.

The health and safety risks of corridor care

We all know providing hospital care in inappropriate settings - such as corridors, car parks and waiting rooms - should never be the norm. Rightly, there is a lot of focus on the impact of corridor care on patient safety and dignity, but there are also serious risks to the health, safety and wellbeing of the nursing staff delivering that care.

Our members on the ground have reported increased fire safety risks because of corridor care, such as exits and evacuation routes being blocked or obstructed, as well as an accumulation of waste and flammable materials and poor storage of oxygen.

Corridor care also adds to the moral distress felt by nursing staff, and there’s the risk of verbal and physical abuse which is often exacerbated by patients’ frustration at long waits and unsuitable environments for care.

All employers have a legal duty to ensure the health, safety and welfare of their employees at work. This includes carrying out suitable risk assessments and putting measures in place to prevent harm from occurring - including psychological harm from stress and violence.

Under the Safety Representatives and Safety Committee Regulations, RCN health and safety reps have the legal right to inspect the workplace and escalate concerns. Inspections are a key tool to identify hazards and possible breaches of health and safety legislation – and some reps have used them to create change in their workplaces.

Using health and safety legislation as a lever for change

One example of a health and safety rep’s involvement in ending corridor care in their workplace was escalating issues identified during a health and safety inspection to the board, which led to the concerns being added to the corporate risk register and corridor care being halted. During the inspection, the rep used the opportunity to speak with RCN members about their safety concerns. It quickly became clear that these were not isolated issues; instead, the inspection revealed systemic problems and highlighted the increasing and changing risks associated with delivering care in inappropriate settings.

In another organisation, a health and safety rep raised issues via an inspection which led to their workplace bringing in extra staff to support patient flow and triage – something that resulted in reduced patient wait times and ambulance handover times. While there are still significant issues, some of the pressures were lifted for staff.

Becoming an RCN health and safety rep

In each of these cases, RCN health and safety reps raised collective concerns on behalf of members and were supported by the RCN to make change. If you are passionate about improving working environments and the health, safety and wellbeing of nursing staff in your workplace – something that has a big impact on patient safety and dignity – then becoming a health and safety rep would be a rewarding role for you.

All of our health and safety reps are provided with learning and development opportunities to carry out their role, including tools, resources and masterclasses to support their inspection activity. Reps are also entitled to statutory paid time off to perform their role and have extra employment protections when carrying out rep activity.

The legislation gives you the right to represent any RCN member in your workplace. So, you can work in any role or team and you can still visit another department to inspect it.

By becoming a health and safety rep, you can act as the eyes, ears and voice of members - whether on corridor care or any other workplace issue - and play a pivotal role in driving real change.

Find out more about becoming a health and safety rep and how you can be part of making a lasting difference in your workplace. You can also find out more about the RCN’s corridor care campaign.