An NHS trust has been criticised for using a “ludicrous” term to describe corridor care.
Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust used the phrase ‘temporary escalation spaces’ in a report put before Worcestershire County Council’s health overview and scrutiny committee.
Several NHS bosses appeared before the committee on Wednesday (June 17) to face questions on urgent and emergency care.
HOSPITAL: Corridor care is an issue at Worcestershire Royal Hospital (Image: Phil Wilkinson-Jones/LDRS)
In the meeting, Councillor Christine Wild called out the trust for its use of the phrase ‘temporary escalation spaces’, saying the term was “ludicrous”.
“I’m not keen that that name has been hidden because we all understand what corridor care is,” said Cllr Wild.
“How many patients actually received corridor care over the winter, what does the picture look like now and when do you realistically think we can stop treating patients in corridors?
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“And I’m not just talking about A&E.
“I’m also talking about the wards, where I have personally witnessed, just a couple of weeks ago, that there were patients in the corridors there.
“I found that pretty much a horror story to witness.”
Simon Adams of Healthwatch Worcestershire said: “I notice they didn’t use the ‘temporary escalation space’ phrase when NHS England published its data – it was published as corridor care.”
Vivek Khashu, director of strategy and engagement at West Midlands Ambulance Service, said: “We also take issue with the way temporary escalation space is recorded and reported, because what it doesn’t do is look at the patients held outside.
POOR USE OF WORDS: Vivek Khashu, director of strategy and engagement at WMAS, criticised the acute trust’s report (Image: Phil Wilkinson-Jones/LDRS)
“There are thousands of people around the country who are held outside in an ambulance and can’t get into a corridor, let alone a cubicle.
“We wouldn’t refer to it as a temporary escalation space. I think it’s a poor use of words. Our medical director would describe it as car park care.
“Some of the personal experiences of corridor care are worth hearing because it is a grim and brutal experience – for the patients and the families who experience it with them.”
Chris Douglas, the acute trust’s chief operating officer, said there has been a recent “change in the national direction as to what they’re referring to these things as.”
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“They were referred to as temporary escalation spaces but now it’s all about corridor care because as you rightly point out, that’s what it is,” he told the committee.
“We are balancing a number of factors in terms of reducing and ultimately eliminating patients being cared for in corridors.”
He said the trust is taking a phased approach, first tackling the problem on wards before turning to A&E.
Figures published by NHS England show an average of 67 patients a day received corridor care in Herefordshire and Worcestershire.
Mr Douglas said he would come back to councillors with figures for the winter.
