Shocking footage shows patients packed into hospital corridors on trolleys as ambulances queue outside
These shocking images show the harrowing situation inside a crisis-hit Merseyside hospital, where patients on trolleys line corridors and where ambulances queue up outside carrying sick and ill people.
The ECHO has been reporting on the grim situation in the Accident and Emergency department of Arrowe Park Hospital in the Wirral for some weeks now. Last month the ECHO revealed an elderly woman had died alone on a trolley in a corridor with exhausted staff unable to care for her.
This latest footage, sent in by a concerned staff member, shows corridors packed with ill people who they claim are waiting, in some cases, more than four days before a bed on an actual ward becomes available.
In separate footage, a huge queue of ambulances can be seen outside the hospital as more and more sick and ill patients arrive, but with nowhere to put them.
One A&E staff member told the ECHO: “There are more patients in corridors than at any point I can remember. It is a national problem but there are problems with Arrowe Park’s management of it as well. They just can’t cope. I have seen managers crying in corridors because it is so bad.
Footage from inside Arrowe Park Hospital shows patients on trolleys packed into corridors
“Things are desperate. There are people having catheters put in on a corridor where things aren’t sterile. It feels like something you would see in a third world country, not the UK. I really don’t think the public realise how bad things are.
“The mood is really depressing, no one is happy. It used to feel like we were a big family but now we are just surviving. It makes me wonder why I spent all that time training for this.”
Another emergency room staff member said: “On Thursday last week we had 23 ambulances outside, because we simply had no physical space whatsoever that day.
“There were 30 patients on our corridors, that’s all the corridors blocked, we had 12 patients in an escalation area. We had 12 patients on a make-up ward not even counted in our numbers. When you add all that up, plus the 23 outside who we couldn’t fit inside, you see how hard it is.
“We had patients waiting over 100 hours for a bed that day. That’s four-and-a-half days waiting in A&E for a bed to come available. It’s ridiculous.”
Speaking to the hospital’s management, they added: “They need to look at where the problem is, there is no flow through the hospital, why is that? The system is wrong. They are putting it down to an increase in flu, but it’s a lot more than that. We told them we wouldn’t cope this winter and it feels like no one listened.
“We had five members of our team all crying on Thursday. We feel the place is dangerous, it’s not safe. Patients are not getting medication, they are falling off trolleys, we haven’t got enough space to get them in or the staff to look after them if we did get them inside. The whole thing is broken and we feel that the trust is hiding it.”
A Wirral University Teaching Hospital spokesperson said: “Ensuring our patients receive safe care is our top priority and we have robust plans in place to maintain patient safety.
“We can assure that throughout their patient journey, patients are receiving safe care with strict infection, prevention and control measures in place. To assist during the current busy period, we have increased staff in the Emergency Department by safely redeploying clinical staff from other departments and we have opened additional designated bed spaces within the main hospital. This is part of our winter planning process and business continuity during busy periods.
Huge queues of ambulances have been seen outside Arrowe Park Hospital in recent weeks
“Maintaining the dignity of our patients is of the utmost importance, and we have also invited non-clinical staff from across the hospital to provide support in ED so that clinical staff can concentrate on providing clinical care for our patients. This has been welcomed by staff in the Emergency Department.
“As is the case at hospitals across the country, our Emergency Department continues to experience sustained high demand, with unwell patients and attendances higher than expected for this time of year. Ambulance conveyances were also higher last week than we would expect for the time of year.
“We are working closely with all our health and care partners, including the ambulance service, to improve patient flow, support timely discharge, reduce waiting times in the Emergency Department and to release ambulances back into the community to respond to emergencies.
“We have a range of support services in place to support the health and wellbeing of staff and sincerely wish to thank colleagues across our hospitals who are working exceptionally hard in challenging circumstances to provide the best possible care for all our patients.
“We would also like to thank our patients for considering alternative services and ask them not to come to the Accident & Emergency Department unless it is an accident or an emergency, to enable us to deal with those that truly require urgent care.”
