Doctor reveals ‘grim’ realities on NHS wards with staff giving ‘end-of-life’ care to patients on trollies

Sign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check email Get our free Health Check email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Dr Rachel Clarke, a top palliative care doctor, shared the “grim” conditions found in NHS hospitals as she claimed “Dickensian” conditions are now the norm. The former journalist who later retrained as a doctor recalled how she turned up for a morning shift to see a “broken” team and ten ambulances queuing outside the hospital with patients. open image in gallery Dr Rachel Clarke, a top palliative care doctor, shared the “grim” conditions found in NHS hospitals as she says “Dickensian” conditions are now the norm. open image in gallery Dr Clarke’s latest book, The Story of a Heart, follows the true story of two families linked after a nine-year-old boy is given the heart of a girl of the same age who suffered catastrophic injuries in a car crash Discussing the state of palliative care in the NHS, the doctor continued: “I think if people in Britain - if the public knew that there were people suffering at the end of their life in this way, that was wholly avoidable, that we could fix if we changed the way we are managing the NHS and funding the NHS, they would want to do that immediately.