Responding to the Royal College of Nursing’s ‘On the frontline of the UK’s corridor care crisis’ report, Older People’s Commissioner for Wales, Rhian Bowen-Davies, said:
“The report published today by the RCN, which finds that care is being delivered in spaces that ‘compromise safety and dignity’, makes for very difficult reading, with testimonies from frontline staff detailing shocking failures in the care of some of our most vulnerable patients, many of whom will be older people.
“The RCN’s report indicates that the issues highlighted are a daily reality for many patients and staff, and it is unacceptable that the provision of care that could put the safety and dignity of patients at risk appears to be becoming normalised.
“This is something often reflected in conversations I’ve had about the health service with older people, many of whom have very low expectations about the quality of care they might receive if they required treatment in hospital.
“We need to see strong leadership, both within health boards and from the Welsh Government, to enable urgent action to respond to these issues, as well as action to tackle the wider systemic issues that have contributed to the failures identified, to ensure that protecting patient safety and dignity is a priority and that the highest standards of care are delivered at all times.”