I spent 26 hours in a hospital corridor - I’m not the first, and I won’t be the last

This blog is written by Roger, a retired minister and patient in the South West of England.

Many of us expect to wait upon arrival at A&E, but I could not have imagined that I would spend 26 hours sitting on a chair in a hospital corridor waiting for a bed.  

Back in October, I had been experiencing chest pains and breathing difficulties for a number of days with an underlying urinary bacterial infection. I managed to get an appointment at my local GP surgery where I was examined and referred to A&E. I arrived at 2pm and within four hours I was seen, given an IV antibiotic and told that they wanted to admit me to a ward. 

It all seemed straightforward. I didn’t realise then that it would be anything but. 

I thought I would be moved to a ward but instead I was placed on a plastic chair and waited in a corridor for a further 22 hours, throughout the night and most of the following day until 4pm when a space on a ward became available. Nurses came to check on us and they tried their best to ensure we were comfortable but it didn’t make waiting and attempting to sleep upright in a chair any easier.

I waited a couple of hours in a ward corridor before I was moved into a bed, still waiting in the corridor. Then I was moved again whilst I waited for another patient to be discharged. After waiting most of the day I was eventually moved into a bed space on the ward. 

I spent three days blocking a bed while I waited for kidney and bladder scans, being moved a number of times within the ward as the staff team tried to juggle a busy and complex ward of patients, some needing more oversight than others. I understand why I was moved and know that it is no fault of the staff, but it doesn’t make for a comfortable stay when you know you cannot quite get settled.

The care I received was excellent and I cannot fault the nurses and doctors who were working exceptionally hard under difficult circumstances. Had I been able to get the scans I needed sooner, I would have been able to go home, freeing up the bed for other patients who needed it more than I did.

Chronic underfunding and underresourcing of the NHS and social care has meant that there are people still in beds either waiting for scans or for care to be put in place so that they can go home. 

Patients like me are not to blame, instead it is successive governments who are refusing to put the level of investment needed into the NHS and social care.

I know that I am not the first patient to wait in a corridor for more than 24 hours and without urgent action from the government I won’t be the last.