The NHS is at breaking point. According to official figures, almost 3,000 patients every day are receiving corridor care.
This doesn’t just mean being treated in a corridor which is already outrageously bad enough, but it includes unsafe places such as toilets and even cupboards. At times, patients are stuck in these conditions for hours.
Corridor care has increased in recent years as a result of cuts from central government and private companies leaching billions. We need to fight for full funding for buildings, recruitment of staff and free training.
To end the scandal of sick patients stuck in corridors and cupboards we need to kick out private companies and bringing all services back in-house, and nationalise the big pharmaceutical and supply companies under democratic workers’ control and management, with patient oversight.
The stats and the platitudes of Labour politicians about corridor care do not even begin to correspond to the real experience. An 87-year-old man with cancer and dementia suffered two strokes and was rushed to hospital in an ambulance. He stayed in the ambulance for six hours, with medical staff working hard to run the necessary tests and provide care, until it was concluded that a bed was not going to come available, and – in circumstances which would routinely require 24-hour observation – he was sent home. He didn’t even make the corridor!
