RCN Wales says patients are being left in chairs and hospital corridors for hours as England begins releasing national figures

WALES is being urged to begin publishing hospital corridor care data after England released its first national figures exposing the scale of patients being treated in inappropriate spaces.

RCN Wales said the Welsh Government cannot properly tackle unsafe care if it is not routinely measured or publicly reported.

The call follows the publication of corridor care data by NHS England, which RCN Wales said provides a clearer picture of the scale of the issue in English hospitals for the first time.

The union is calling for the Welsh Government to publish monthly corridor care data by health board, agree a national data set, and release the first figures as soon as possible.

‘Unsafe and unacceptable’

Nicola Williams, Executive Director of RCN Wales, said: “Today’s publication of corridor care data in England demonstrates why transparency matters. We cannot tackle a problem we do not fully understand and are not measuring.

“Corridor care is unsafe, undignified and unacceptable. Nurses across Wales have repeatedly raised concerns about patients being treated in inappropriate spaces because of pressures on the health and care system.”

Ms Williams said she had recently visited a number of hospitals in Wales where she saw patients in chairs, on trolleys in corridors, and squeezed into overcrowded areas not designed for patient care.

She said some patients had been there for well over 12 hours.

She added: “There was one consistent feature which was the look of fear in patients’ eyes as they watched the continual movement and activity going on loudly in very close proximity to them.

“These patients were mainly in gowns with no privacy, no dignity, no space and no confidentiality.”

‘Now normalised’

RCN Wales said nurses had reported that corridor care had become normalised in some hospital settings.

Ms Williams said staff were going home after shifts knowing they had not been able to give patients the care they deserved.

She said: “Nurses told me this is now normalised, happens every day and staff cannot care adequately for patients, which is causing harm and distress to patients, and significantly affecting nurses’ morale.”

In the Senedd on Tuesday (June 2), Health and Care Cabinet Secretary Mabon ap Gwynfor described corridor care as an unsafe practice and said tackling it was a priority.

RCN Wales said it welcomed that recognition but said the next step must be proper measurement and public reporting.

Ms Williams said: “Without consistent national and organisation-wide data, it is impossible to establish the true scale of the problem, identify trends, target resources effectively or measure progress over time.”

Call for national reviews

RCN Wales is also calling for the publication of two national reviews into healthcare capacity, alongside policy recommendations for action.

The union said understanding the relationship between capacity pressures and corridor care would be essential if the practice was to be eliminated.

Ms Williams added: “This is not about collecting statistics for their own sake. It is about establishing a baseline against which improvement can be measured and ensuring accountability for delivering safer care for patients.

“Nursing staff have been warning about the dangers of corridor care for years. Patients deserve care delivered in safe and appropriate clinical environments, and staff deserve the resources and capacity needed to provide it.

“The publication of data in England is an important step. Wales must now follow suit and ensure we have the evidence needed to eradicate corridor care for good.”

VISITORS to this year’s Royal Welsh Show are being encouraged to use public transport as organisers look to ease congestion and promote more sustainable travel.

The show takes place at the Royal Welsh Showground in Llanelwedd, Builth Wells, from July 20 to 23, and is expected to attract thousands of people from across Wales and beyond.

The Royal Welsh Agricultural Society said rail and bus services would provide convenient options for showgoers, with free shuttle buses running from Builth Road railway station to the showground, which is just over a mile away.

Discounted admission

Visitors travelling on the Heart of Wales Line with a valid rail ticket will be able to buy discounted show admission tickets from conductors and ticket offices along the route.

The discounted prices are £35 for adults and £11 for children. Children under 16 can travel free by train when accompanied by a fare-paying adult.

Transport for Wales said rail services would connect visitors from across Wales and the borders, including routes from Cardiff through some of Wales’ most scenic countryside. TrawsCymru bus services will also provide another option for those travelling to the event.

Family activities

Transport for Wales and Network Rail will also have an interactive stand at the show, offering family-friendly rail safety activities and entertainment.

Activities will include VR headset experiences, story time sessions, badge-making classes and rail safety performances. Builth Wells Male Voice Choir is also due to visit the stand on the first day of the show.

Children under 16 travelling to the show by train on the Heart of Wales Line will be able to collect a free activity sheet on board and hand in their completed artwork at the Transport for Wales stand for a chance to win a prize.

Visitors are being urged to plan their journeys in advance through the Transport for Wales website and journey planner.

Travel encouraged:

Visitors to the Royal Welsh Show are being urged to consider rail and bus services this year (Pic: RWAS).

Call follows weeks of debate over Welsh Government pledges, childcare, free school meals and direct support for struggling families

MPs are inviting frontline workers across Wales to share evidence on how child poverty is affecting families and communities.

The Welsh Affairs Committee is asking practitioners who work with children and families to take part in an online roundtable at 3:00pm on Tuesday, July 14.

The session will help inform the committee’s inquiry into working towards ending child poverty in Wales.

It comes after weeks of renewed political debate over child poverty, including Welsh Government pledges on childcare, free school meals and direct support for low-income families.

The latest call from MPs shifts the focus from policy promises to frontline experience, asking those working directly with families to explain where poverty is being felt most sharply, which groups are most at risk, and whether current support is reaching the people who need it.

Welsh Government figures have previously shown around 31% of children in Wales living in relative income poverty, while the Bevan Foundation has said latest data points to around 210,000 children being affected.

MPs say they want to hear directly from people working in communities, including those supporting families at greater risk of poverty, such as households with disabled adults or children, and ethnic minority-headed households.

Committee chair Ruth Jones MP said: “Our inquiry is investigating the barriers to ending child poverty in Wales. Hearing from individuals working to support families in communities up and down the country will provide the committee with invaluable insight, which can then inform our recommendations to the UK Government.

“We are keen to hear from a diverse range of practitioners across Wales, especially those working with disabled or ethnic minority groups. I encourage those with valuable experience to share to take the opportunity to participate.”

Child poverty affects communities in different ways across Wales. In rural areas, families can face higher transport costs, limited access to childcare, poor public transport and fewer local services. In urban communities, housing costs, insecure work, debt and pressure on food banks are among the key issues raised by campaigners.

Practitioners are being asked to email [email protected] by Friday, June 26, with details of their organisation, where in Wales they work, whether they support families at higher risk of poverty, and a brief outline of their experience.

Applicants will be told by Tuesday, June 30, whether they have been selected to take part.

The Welsh Affairs Committee scrutinises the work of the Wales Office and UK Government policy affecting Wales. Its inquiry is looking at how the UK and Welsh governments can work together to tackle child poverty and what barriers remain to ending it.