Staff have warned that patients are waiting in ward corridors in wheelchairs and trolleys for “others to die or be discharged” just to get a bed, under a system criticised by nurses as “detrimental to first-world care” and cleaners as “something that will increase hospital acquired infections”.

Bylines Scotland has spoken to concerned staff stating that people being brought to a ward are often brought there early in the morning and still there late in the evening, on the “off chance” that a bed is made available.

According to a member of staff:

“The ED is struggling to cope, I understand that a recent request to declare a major incident in order to get more help was declined but things haven’t really improved. We’re having to send patients to wards to ‘share the risk’ as we simply don’t have the space. We’re sending patients to wards that don’t have any rooms available, meaning patients are having to sit in the corridor and use staff or public toilets. 

By ‘share the risk’, they mean clear space to let the ambulances in and foist critically ill patients off onto other wards that are also full on the off chance they may get an empty bed and it doesn’t reflect in our figures. In some instances, patients are (unknowingly) waiting for someone to die so they can get the bed. It’s 2023.Our waiting room is packed, our ambulance bays are queued out and no one seems to want to raise the profile of this incident in case it’s embarrassing to GGC. In short, we’re trying to provide first world care in what feels like a third world environment. Patients waiting in corridors for other patients to die isn’t something I thought could ever happen here, but it is happening, and the board are refusing to follow the advice of its senior doctors.”

Cleaning staff are also concerned, with one member of staff telling Bylines Scotland that the usage of corridors is poor infection control practice and could very easily lead to an increase in hospital acquired infections, including Covid-19.

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