Sian Gwenllian MS joined representatives of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and the British Medical Association (BMA) in calling for an end to corridor care in Welsh hospitals.
A petition was launched on Tuesday (29 April), urging the Welsh Government to take immediate action to end the practice of treating patients in corridors, chairs, waiting areas and all other inappropriate settings. RCN Wales and BMA Cymru Wales has warned that treating patients in corridors is putting them at risk of “significant harm”.
Sian Gwenllian said: “The two unions say the new petition was sparked by testimonies from doctors and nurses detailing the serious consequences of corridor care.
“These include frail, elderly patients left waiting for days in chairs, and others placed near nursing stations without privacy—leading to missed diagnoses, delayed treatments, disorientation, and physical decline.
“This is clearly unacceptable and I fully support the unions’ call for action to end corridor care at Ysbyty Gwynedd and hospital settings across Wales.”
Helen Whyley, Executive Director of RCN Wales said: “We are beyond breaking point. I have travelled across Wales and witnessed people in pain, confused and frightened, with no privacy, no dignity, and no proper care environment.
“Treating patients in corridors and other inappropriate areas is not nursing – it is crisis management in a system that is failing.
“Corridor care is unsafe, undignified, and unacceptable. The Welsh Government must act now-working with health unions and NHS leaders-to implement urgent and meaningful changes.
“Every day that we delay, more patients suffer. Patients deserve better. Nurses deserve better. Wales deserves better.”
Stephen Kelly, chair of the BMA’s Welsh Consultants Committee said: “When a patient is not placed in a bed space there’s a chance something vital may be missed, there’s no access to monitoring equipment and no privacy to carry out certain procedures.
“This is dangerous and is putting patients’ lives at risk, we urge the Welsh Government to work with us to put a stop to this practice.
“We’re extremely concerned that the ‘normalising’ of seeing patients in completely inappropriate spaces will mean that patients come to significant harm which is hugely distressing for patients but also NHS staff.
“This affects everyone in Wales, and we urge people to sign the petition and help us to put an end to corridor care.”
The petition can be signed here, and calls on the Welsh Government to take urgent action to end corridor care.
Photo: Siân Gwenlian MS and Arniel Bautista Hernando, Lead Advanced Nurse Practitioner for Surgical, Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board.
