One challenge facing the NHS in Scotland that keeps colleagues and me awake at night is "corridor care". The pressure on services means that too many people in our hospitals are being cared for in the wrong place. Or they’re being cared for in wards with far more beds than they were designed for and too few nursing staff.

Back in January this year, the RCN raised the alarm over this crisis. Harrowing first-hand testimony from over 500 RCN members in Scotland highlighted how demoralised nursing staff were caring for multiple patients unable to access oxygen, cardiac monitors, suction and other lifesaving equipment. Patients are being left with no access to bathroom facilities or buzzers and having to deliver personal care to incontinent patients with no privacy.

The impact goes far beyond the doors of emergency departments, with nursing staff across many acute settings desperately struggling as they are forced to create space for........

© Herald Scotland