Responding to a report by the National Audit Office on managing the flow of patients through hospital from A&E,  RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive, Professor Nicola Ranger, said: 

“This report confirms what we are hearing from nursing staff on the ground, that there has been precious little improvement to the serious pressures they have been facing for years. Overcrowding and corridor care are symptoms of the failure to get to grips with care in alternate settings, including in social care and the community. 

“Fixing social care is essential to addressing this crisis, with far too many patients stuck in hospital despite being ready to be discharged. This fails the vulnerable people who need proper care and support, while preventing attempts to improve capacity in the NHS from having an effect. It's unacceptable that a lack of funding stops people from being moved into the social care system, even when there is space available. A failure to address social care remains a roadblock to meaningful improvements in the NHS. 

“The real human cost of long waits and overcrowding is patients languishing in corridors, going into cardiac arrest, receiving intimate care, or being given end-of-life news in full view of others. Now more than ever, we need ministers to make good on delivering a national care service and to recognise how investing in the nursing workforce closer to peoples’ homes, like those in the community, can improve hospital performance.” 

Ends 

Notes to editors

National Audit Office report -  Managing the flow of patients through hospital from A&E