'I had to lie on the floor to get relief in A&E' as hospital corridor care revealed

A woman has told BBC News NI she had to lie on the floor of the A&E at the South West Acute Hospital (Swah) in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh to get relief while she waited.

Kerry O'Neill from Omagh in County Tyrone said she was "in shock" at the "horrendous" scenes she witnessed of people waiting in hospital corridors.

On Thursday it emerged that more people in Northern Ireland are treated in hospital corridors compared to elsewhere in the UK, according to a new report by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine.

The report carried out by The Trainee Emergency Medicine Research Network (TERN) is a snapshot of five days in March in emergency departments (EDs) across the UK. Swah was not monitored in the report.

Ms O'Neill went to A&E as she had been having bad abdominal pain and was being referred to have her gall bladder removed.

She initially went to urgent care in Omagh Hospital then was sent in an ambulance to the Swah.

"I was triaged there with a nurse, but there were no beds. I was just told to sit down and I can't sit for long periods of time, so I either had to stand up or the only other alternative was to lie down because I was exhausted by that stage," Ms O'Neill told BBC News NI.

"What I saw, I was just in shock, I knew things were bad but until you see it you just can't believe it.

"Every single space you can imagine along walls are all lined with chairs and with trollies.

"Where's the dignity and humanity? The staff were really good and they were getting to the patients when they could, because they're the ones that are under pressure."

Ms O'Neill said she would not be returning to A&E for herself unless she was unconscious because she "can't do it".

"It's almost like a form of torture – the exhaustion, the lack of sleep, these people lying there for hours and hours.

"There's no dignity whatsoever but it's not the staffs' fault," she added.

Vice President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine in Northern Ireland, Dr Michael Perry, said the level of corridor care was "completely unacceptable".

"Those in power in Northern Ireland must do better. This is horrific. Corridor care is undignified; it compromises confidentiality and causes harm. It must be eradicated," Dr Perry said.

A total of 165 EDs across the UK were monitored, including Craigavon Area, The Ulster, Royal Victoria and Antrim Area hospitals in Northern Ireland.

The research study headline is one in five people across the UK are cared for in escalation or corridor areas, in NI that figure is one in three.

The study also found that between 10-25% of EDs have no available resuscitation cubicle.

The biggest problem was found to be patient flow throughout the system - being able to discharge patients home when their hospital care is complete in order to admit others.

The RCEM said the figures confirm that corridor care is "endemic" in the UK and that these figures reveal the scale of the problem which ED staff have been describing for years.

UK College President Dr Ian Higginson said tackling the problem required investment.

"That doesn't mean more money but instead how we choose to spend the money on keeping people out of hospital and what is spent on the number of hospital beds," Dr Higginson said.

"We are calling on all the devolved nations to commit to eradicating corridor care" he said.

Speaking on Good Morning Ulster, Dr Perry called the situation "scandalous".

"It's a nightmare situation for patients and for staff all year round," he said.

He called it a "national problem," but added that "the study demonstrates how far behind we are" in Northern Ireland to the rest of the UK.

Dr Perry said the main issue for hospitals is the "lack of flow" and called it "inhumane for people to be treated that way".

About 300 people are waiting for beds across the system but there are more than 500 waiting for social care support before being discharged.

"That's an enormous amount of functional beds that we can't use in the system, because we cant get patients discharged out the backdoor of the hospital," said Dr Perry.

He said: "The government and the executive need to come together to tackle this."

Pauline Shepherd, the chief executive of the Independent Health Care Providers (IHCP) said this is an issue.

"We are in a crisis as we have an aging populartion in NI. We can't recruit and retain people to care for them in their homes or in a care home and that crisis is only going to get worse," she added.

With flu cases still rising, trusts are asking people to wear face masks in healthcare settings to help prevent the spread.