The number of patients being treated in hospital corridors will be officially recorded for the first time in Northern Ireland.
In a letter to the SDLP’s Colin McGrath, health minister Mike Nesbitt confirmed the figures will be compiled from June.
Mr Nesbitt said the final stages of rolling out a major digital overhaul across the health trusts, the £300m Encompass system, will allow “consistent monitoring of bed availability and the utilisation of corridor beds”.
With the Southern and Western trusts adopting the system on May 8, he added: “We expect that regional monitoring of all bed data, including corridor beds, will commence at the beginning of June.”
Earlier this year, Northern Ireland nurses spoke out against the dangers of corridor care as part of a national report from the Royal College of Nursing.
The report stated patients were dying in hospital corridors, with nurses warning that patient safety and dignity was being compromised by a lack of access to equipment and privacy.
Mr McGrath said the development was “an important and long-overdue step” and that he hoped to see the first set of statistics published in October.
“The recent report by the RCN made for deeply concerning reading – highlighting how corridor care has become normalised, placing both staff and patients under immense strain,” he told the Irish News.
SDLP MLA Colin McGrath. (Oliver McVeigh/PA)
“These are makeshift spaces not designed for treatment, let alone for the dignity and privacy every patient deserves. Stories of patients lying for hours or even days on trolleys in hospital corridors show just how desperate the situation is within our health service.”
Stating that “we cannot fix what we do not measure,” the MLA said the figures would reveal the true extent of the problem and prompt “meaningful action.”
“This data will support frontline staff, inform resourcing decisions, and help ensure that patients receive care in a safe and appropriate setting. It must also form part of a wider conversation around safe staffing levels and workload,” he said.
“It’s important that these statistics drive change and don’t become just another indicator of a rapidly collapsing health service.
“Missed health targets are now the norm, while the Executive continues to delay the transformation that our hospital network desperately needs. Publishing corridor care data is a welcome step, but it must be followed by real reform, targeted funding, and meaningful action to restore public confidence.”
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