NHS England has published principles for providing safe and good quality care in temporary escalation spaces.

NHS England believes the delivery of care in temporary escalation spaces (TES) in departments experiencing patient crowding (including beds and chairs) is not acceptable and should not be considered as standard.

The announcement comes after a survey and report by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) which showed that this has a detrimental impact of this type of care setting on patients and staff.

TES does not refer to spaces that are opened as part of winter pressure planning but does include care given in any unplanned settings (such as corridors).

The principles have been developed to support point-of-care staff provide the safest, most effective and highest quality care possible when TES care has been deemed necessary. They should be applied alongside any local standard operating procedures and arrangements governing flow pathways and safe staffing.

The six core principles are assessment of risk; escalation; quality of care; raising concerns and reporting incidents; data collection and measuring harms; and de-escalation.

In response, Patricia Marquis, executive director for RCN England, said: "Nursing staff raised the alarm over treating patients in corridors and the system is beginning to respond.

"Clear reporting should be mandatory, not optional, if the NHS is going to get a grip on this emergency situation. No patient deserves the indignity of care in such inappropriate locations.

"Good care costs but poor care costs more. In the upcoming budget [30 October], the government must invest to get the NHS through this winter safely.”