A CANCER patient who spent more than 13 hours on an A&E trolley says urgent action is needed to prevent a winter corridor crisis.

However, health bosses say they are doing all they can to deal with the seasonal pressures at Worcester hospital, including overhauling A&E and developing new approaches to caring for emergency patients.

Bowel cancer patient Nick Turner welcomed a pledge made by Michelle McKay, chief executive of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, to commit to making sure no patients are cared for on hospital trolleys in corridors at Worcestershire Royal Hospital in future.

However, the 54-year-old believes urgent steps must now be taken and wants to see a time frame for phasing out the practise altogether.

He has previously suggested that army tents like those from the hit television series M*A*S*H be used at busy times and attacked the lack of privacy and dignity for patients cared for on trolleys in corridors.

The solicitor of Ombersley Road, Worcester, said earlier claims made by the trust that the care received on a corridor was similar to that received elsewhere in the hospital were ‘balderdash’.

The trust has previously said that corridors were a fully enclosed part of the A&E department and that patients were cared for by the same doctors and nurses as any other patient on the department.

However, at a meeting of the health overview and scrutiny committee, a Worcestershire health watchdog, earlier this month at County Hall Michelle McKay said she wanted to put a stop to patients having to receive care on hospital trolleys in corridors.

Mr Turner said in response: “I want to see emergency action with the onset of winter.

"Good – she wants to abolish corridor hell but what is she doing to make sure it doesn’t happen every single night of the week in Worcester this winter?

“I feel so bad about my fellow citizens having to put up with it, particularly the elderly.”

Mr Turner was admitted to Worcestershire Royal Hospital on July 30 with a blood infection after chemotherapy for bowel cancer compromised his immune system. Since then he has been interviewed first by the Worcester News, then by ITN and BBC Midlands Today about his ordeal.

He now believes Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust should explore the possibility of caring for some patients in bed and breakfasts and nursing homes instead of in corridors on trolleys.

A £920,000 overhaul of A&E has already begun to better manage the high volume of patients.

Instead of the current ambulatory emergency care, which has just two chairs for patients, the trust will have a bigger unit with six assessment trolleys and 10 chairs, providing a consultant-led service, allowing decisions about what treatment these patients need to be made more quickly.

However, plans to open 81 extra beds and 141 car parking spaces at Aconbury East in Worcester would not happen until next winter.

In a joint statement, Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust, Worcestershire’s three Clinical Commissioning Groups and Worcestershire County Council said: “Over the past few months we have been working together more closely than ever before on a plan which will enable everyone involved in providing health and care across Worcestershire to support each other through what we expect will be a very challenging winter, and ensure we can provide safe, high quality care for all our patients.

“Our priority is to help people stay well through winter. If they do become unwell, then our aim is to provide as much of their care as possible closer to home, and by doing so ease pressure on emergency departments and other parts of the urgent care system which will then be able to focus on helping the most seriously ill patients.

“A number of actions have already been taken – including the recent opening of a new countywide frailty service based at the Alexandra Hospital and work, which started this week, to expand and improve the Ambulatory Emergency Care (AEC) unit at Worcestershire Royal. The expanded AEC unit which is due to open later next month will provide a consultant-led service that helps to speed up decisions about what treatment patients require."

Other steps they are taking in the near future include an expanded GP home visiting service for those patients who are really unwell and providing beds for patients who are medically fit for discharge from hospital but who need long term care in a care home.

People are urged to make sure they get their flu jabs and choose the right part of the health care system when they need care.