The BEDS – End Corridor Care in A&E is a fantastic campaign, led by retired consultant Jonathan Osborne FRCS, that aims to bring back community beds in community hospitals, end the tragedies occurring in A&E corridors, decrease patient deaths by reducing ambulance and corridor waits, and ensure that senior medics are present at the door of A&E.
Janet Finch-Saunders, the Member of the Welsh Parliament for Aberconwy who supports this campaign, commented:
“I have continuously raised my concerns about the impacts of long waits for treatment in A&E departments, as well as the shocking and upsetting number of deaths occurring in A&E whilst patients wait for treatment. Corridor care is distressing for both patients and medical professionals, and it should come to an end.
“Mair Dowell, who has spent her career as a senior nurse in Glan Clwyd A&E, told the BEDS campaign that ‘a senior medical director found that, at the time, there were 90 patients in Glan Clwyd that shouldn’t be there, they should be at home or in cottage hospitals. What that meant was that there were 90 patients in A&E who couldn’t get a bed.’
“We need to ensure that the number of beds is not cut. We must call for community beds to be reopened so that people can be moved out of A&E and onto a ward. I encourage the Welsh Government to take note of this campaign and work with its organisers to achieve these goals.”
ENDS
Photo: Janet Finch-Saunders MS/AS
