SOUTHEND Hospital is employing paramedics to “nurse” A&E patients in corridors, it has been revealed.

With increasing numbers of patients attending the emergency department, ambulance crews are often unable to hand over patients in A&E when no beds are available.

Now in a bid to free up crews, the hospital is said to have brought in “corridor nursing” to care for patients until A&E cubicles are available.

Paramedics are employed by the trust on ‘bank’ contracts to care for up to five patients in the main A&E corridor who are on hospital trolleys or in wheelchairs.

The campaign group Save Southend NHS said patients are “moved about for X-rays, to see doctors, have treatment but ultimately they are returned to the corridor until cubicles eventually becomes available”.

Between December 30 and January 5, ambulances took 594 people to Southend A&E. Of these, 176 people waited more than 30 minutes to be transferred to the emergency department – twice as long as the national target of 15 minutes.

This is an improvement on the week between December 23 to 29, when 99 of 579 patients taken to the hospital by ambulance waited more than 30 minutes and 50 waited more than an hour of corridor trolleys.

Denise Townsend, Director of Nursing at Southend Hospital, said: “This scheme is run as and when needed, so is a contingency role. It exists to help ambulance crews get back out on the road quickly to treat other patients, and to help ensure the care pathway for those who have just arrived in hospital by ambulance begins as soon as possible.

“We always care for and treat the sickest patients first to make sure that we are keeping people safe.”

A spokesman for Save Southend NHS said: “Corridor nursing cannot be allowed to become the norm. We have to ensure patient safety above all else. Southend needs very substantial investment in staff and capital investment in the departments and wards. “