Hospital recruits emergency doctor specialising in ‘corridor treatment’… as shock data shows 80 per cent medics are offering care in ‘unsafe’ spaces including toilets

An NHS hospital has been forced to recruit a doctor to work in A&E corridors in a bid to reduce overcrowding. 

University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust said it was seeking a medic whose role was focused specifically on the treatment of elderly patients stuck on corridors.

Corridor care was ‘now normal’ at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton, it added, where 1,200 patients waited at least 12 hours for a bed last month.

Health leaders today warned that the ad was a ‘frightening and worrying indictment of how bad things have become’ and exposed the ‘very shameful reality’ of the NHS. 

It comes just a day after disturbing new figures revealed eight in ten NHS doctors had had to offer treatment in ‘unsuitable’ public spaces in the past month.

The damning report from the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) found patients were often stripped of their dignity and routinely had their safety compromised.

Last month, the Whittington Hospital in North London, also advertised for nurses to work 12-hour ‘corridor care’ shifts.  

In the job ad, seen by The Times, the trust said that corridor care had become ‘normalised’ around the country, and this increases the risk of patients dying.

Posted on the NHS jobs website on Tuesday, with a salary of £49,909 to £70,425, it read: ‘Caring for older people in the corridor of the emergency department is now normal in our hospital. 

‘This is replicated in trusts across the country. 

‘Our clinical experience and the evidence tells us that long periods in corridors lead to increased morbidity and mortality, especially for older people with frailty.

The role is also a fellowship, aimed at doctors who have worked in the NHS for several years. 

They will focus on the ‘current, urgent clinical and educational need’ for improving corridor care, as well as ‘implementing changes in the corridor’, the advert added.

Dr Adrian Boyle, President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, told The Times: ‘Let me be clear from the off, this is not about one job advert or blaming the trust who issued it. 

‘The fact that such a role could even be considered necessary is a frightening and worrying indictment of how bad things have become.

‘Corridor care is a very dangerous and very shameful reality and not just during winter. 

‘To end this dangerous situation, we need more available hospital beds so we can admit the people who need inpatient care and to tackle this issue of delayed discharges.’

Professor Katie Urch, chief medical officer at the University Hospitals Sussex, also said: ‘The delays that patients are experiencing in our hospitals, including corridor care, are linked to challenges across our entire health and care system.

‘To support this, the jointly funded role with our local medical school is focused on the care of frail elderly patients to avoid unnecessary hospital admissions and to ensure the most appropriate inpatient assessment and care.

‘We all understand that corridor care is not acceptable, and that we must continue our progress towards eliminating it. 

‘This role builds on the significant steps we have already taken with our partners to ensure patients receive more timely admission or treatment. 

‘Although the winter has been extremely difficult, there are clear signs of improvement compared with last year.’

It comes just a day after the damning RCP report found 78 per cent of doctors surveyed said they had provided care in a temporary environment in the past month.

Of the 889 respondents who gave further details on where this care was delivered, 45 per cent said it was in a corridor. 

More than a quarter (27 per cent) admitted it was in additional beds or chairs in patient bays. 

One in ten (13 per cent), meanwhile, said they had given care in wards without a dedicated bed space, while nine per cent had cared for patients in waiting rooms.

One, shockingly, revealed they ‘had more than one patient die directly as a result of not being in an appropriate clinical area — on a trolley in the corridor rather than in resus’. 

They had also seen ‘end-of-life patients waiting for hours in the back of ambulances or in emergency departments, feeling like they are a burden’. 

Last year, NHS England said it would start recording data on the use of temporary escalation spaces across all NHS trusts from January 2025.

Dr John Dean, clinical vice president of the RCP, said: ‘NHS England’s decision to start recording data on this crisis is a step in the right direction, but it must be made public and acted upon urgently.

‘We need systemic reforms to expand capacity, improve patient flow, protect patient safety, and ensure that corridor care is eliminated — not normalised.’

An NHS spokesperson said: ‘Increasing levels of demand have resulted in extreme pressures on services, particularly during one of the toughest winters the NHS has experienced — but we remain clear that caring for patients in temporary spaces is not acceptable and should never be considered as standard.

‘We know there is much more to do to ensure people get treated quicker in an emergency and avoid being admitted to A&E unless they need to and when there, provide faster and safer care for patients.’

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson also said: ‘It is shocking that corridor care has become a feature of our NHS. 

‘Despite the best efforts of staff, patients are receiving unacceptable standards of treatment.

‘This government has taken decisive action over the past six months to ease pressure on the NHS, including ending the resident doctor strikes so staff are on the frontline, not the picket line for the first winter in three years, and we are providing funding to reduce avoidable admissions to hospital and delayed discharges.

‘We will deliver reform and investment through our Plan for Change so the NHS is there for us when we need it, once again.’