A Plaid Cymru Senedd Member has highlighted the issue of corridor care and cited an example of an elderly cancer patient who collapsed after spending two nights in a chair.
Peredur Owen Griffiths read out in plenary the account of a constituent treated at The Grange Hospital in Cwmbran recently during questions to the Health Minister.
The Senedd Member for South Wales East said the case had been backed up by a joint campaign launched by RCN Cymru and the BMA Cymru to eliminate the growing problem of corridor care.
Peredur said: “I want to highlight, though, the normalisation of corridor care that has become a feature of some Welsh hospitals.
“I received the following account from a pensioner who has cancer and has had to go back and forth to the Grange hospital in Cwmbran for medical complications as a result of that cancer.
“‘The following are his words, and I warn the Chamber of the frankness of the quote: 'Back in the Grange, feeling crap after one night on a chair. The staff are fantastic, but the system definitely isn't.
“‘The only reason I had a bed at last was because I staggered to the loo and collapsed on the floor.
“‘Had to get three nurses to pick me up and plonk me in a chair. Think they realised that I should get a bed. Some people are spending two nights in a chair. It's bloody inhumane. Thank you, Welsh Government.'”
Peredur added: “I know from speaking to members of staff earlier this year that the hospital was allowing triple boarding, which meant that three patients are sometimes close together in one corridor, often with serious conditions.
“This anecdotal case has been backed up by RCN Cymru and BMA Cymru, who have teamed up to launch a petition to try and get the Government to sort the matter out for the sake of patients, and staff who never signed up to provide care in such circumstances.
“Cabinet Secretary, what progress is the Government making in eliminating corridor care, and are you as concerned as I am to hear about the elderly constituent's recent experience at the Grange?”
In reply, Health Minister Jeremy Miles said the case highlighted was “unacceptable” but that things were improving at The Grange.