SAM past president tells Times Health Commission corridor care is ‘undignified, unreasonable and totally inappropriate’

The Times today (Tuesday, 06 February) published its Times Health Commission report into the crisis facing the health and social care system in England.

The commission, set up in January 2023, was supported by a prestigious group of expert commissioners from the worlds of medicine, business, policy, science, food and sport.

This included representation from the Society for Acute Medicine.

The commission visited hospitals, care homes, GP surgeries and research laboratories in the UK and abroad – including visits to Japan, Denmark, Israel, Ireland and Spain – and has developed 10 evidence-based recommendations.

As part of the investigation, the commission talked to Dr Tim Cooksley, immediate past president of SAM.

He warned the situation in the health service was worse than at the height of the Covid crisis.

He said: “It is now accepted that there will be patients in the corridor when you arrive at work. That’s undignified, it’s unreasonable, it’s a totally inappropriate environment to be looking after patients.

“A staff nurse who should be looking after six patients is being expected to look after twenty patients. You’re leaving every day thinking you’ve not done a good job.

“At the moment people don’t see any light at the end of the tunnel. They’re leaving in droves.”

Read the full report.