Patients are at risk as bed shortages and pressures in hospitals remain an issue
- Jun 23, 2016
- EmmaArnold
Hospitals are struggling to cope with the pressures which could mean patients are at risk.
Delegates at the Royal College of Nursing and British Medical Association conferences explained how frail elderly people were being treated in corridors and storerooms.
Doctors at the conferences also warned how hospitals were bursting at the seams with a drastic shortage of beds.
Hannah Bottomley, clinical negligence solicitor at PotterReesDolan, said:
Concern about bed pressure in the NHS is not something new however the stark warnings from both the RCN and BMA annual conferences is that this type of pressure, normally only seen during the colder winter months, is continuing year old and this is creating real problems for patients.
For me, the most worrying aspect of the warnings is the comment that as patients are being sent home due to the bed shortages some will suffer harm as a result.
As a clinical negligence lawyer. I work closely with organisations whose aim is to improve on patient safety in all aspects of care.
However, it seems that the bed crisis is presenting a new issue which is going to make patient safety more difficult to achieve despite all the advances that have been made in recent years.
Figures at the conferences showed other European countries have more than double the number of beds per head compared to the UK.
The number of hospital beds in England has been cut over the last decade to just over 103,000 which means some hospitals are dangerously full.
Dr Mark Porter, BMA leader, said this could cause an increased risk of infections or resulting in patients being sent home too early.