Family say hospital corridor care was 'horrendous'
Carrie Frost"It felt like we were in some kind of prisoner of war system, it was just horrendous."
Patients and families have described waiting hours in corridors, a lack of privacy and exhausted staff at the Queen's Medical Centre's (QMC) emergency department in Nottingham.
A new inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), published on Friday, found pressures in A&E were affecting patient monitoring, privacy and dignity.
Among those affected was Carrie Frost, who said her 84-year-old father Peter Frost waited more than 17 hours for treatment after a fall, before the family was told - in a public corridor - that he had a brain tumour.
Peter was taken to the QMC - which is run by Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust - by ambulance on 23 February.
Despite being diagnosed with a suspected bleed on the brain, he had to wait nearly 40 minutes to be taken off the ambulance.
Carrie said he was put on a trolley at about 15:00 and received a CT scan after about four hours.
She said: "He was diabetic, so I was trying to make sure he had something to eat.
"There was no water, no food, not even a blood test, there was no blood pressure monitoring, there was nothing going on.
"There were two toilets. One wasn't working, and the other didn't have a lock on the door, everything was an absolute nightmare, it was awful."
She added: "All of those people had been triaged by the ambulance service - it's not like they had stubbed their toe or something.
"Most were elderly, most were on their own and the only conversation that was had with those people was being told to be quiet and get back on the trolley.
"It felt like we were in some kind of prisoner of war system, it was just horrendous."
Carrie said her dad was told he needed an additional CT scan at about 23:00, before he was placed in a different corridor at about 02:00, despite having been in a private room.
During the wait, she said she rarely saw any staff and ended up fetching water for other patients.
"At one point someone said they were putting people outside the morgue because they had that many people," Carrie added.
"Imagine going into hospital and your trolley is outside a morgue."
'No privacy'
Carrie said that at 08:30, a new doctor came and, "on the corridor with no privacy", told the family Peter had a brain tumour.
She said: "My mum was there. She was 83 at the time, she had been married to this man for 60-odd years and imagine being told in a corridor that your husband has a brain tumour?
"It's called corridor care, and while it was definitely in a corridor, there was no care.
"If I hadn't seen it myself I wouldn't have believed it."
Peter was kept in hospital for a month, but died in May.
Carrie said she was "definitely not blaming the staff" and could see the strain they were under.
Ramona Usher, 49, was taken to the emergency department by ambulance with breathing difficulties on the evening of 26 September.
She said she was placed in a bay, then over the course of two nights, was moved between a cubicle, an open area and a corridor, before finally being transferred to Nottingham City Hospital, also run by NUH, on 28 September.
She said: "My bed was continually being bumped by other trolleys so there was no rest.
"The nurses were calling it 'trolley Tetris', they were having to move so many people around. I saw the police were putting people in handcuffs, so it was a scary place to be.
"You are vulnerable, you don't have any privacy, you can't charge your phone, there were aggressive people there so I put my backpack on my front and curled against the wall to protect my belongings.
"It's traumatic. You lose track of time, you feel guilt when you ask the staff for anything.
"The staff are working so hard, I saw a nurse standing in the corner crying, you can see the stress they are under."
Usher was eventually diagnosed with pneumonia and hairline fractures of the spine and was in hospital for several days.
"I had to go back for a check-up and just going near the emergency department made me tense up," she said.
"But I have self-confidence, I could ask for help, but what about the elderly and vulnerable?"
'Unacceptable'
The CQC rated urgent and emergency care at the QMC as requires improvement following an unannounced inspection in April.
Inspectors said the department was often caring for more patients than it was designed for, with people treated in corridors due to a lack of space. The hospital was requires improvement overall.
NUH chief executive Anthony May told the BBC the issue of corridor care keeps him awake at night.
On Wednesday, while responding to messages from BBC Radio Nottingham, he said: "Caring for people in corridors is unacceptable.
"We are trying to do something about it. Our emergency department wasn't built to care for people in that way.
"It doesn't protect people's dignity. It isn't a good place to give people care."
May added the trust still had the ambition to resolve the issue of corridor care.
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