Nearly 3,000 NHS patients a day receiving corridor care in England, figures show
Official NHS England figures show nearly 3,000 patients a day were treated in corridors or other inappropriate places in May, amid rising waiting lists.
Intelligence analysis by GPT-5.4 Mini
New NHS England data puts a number on corridor care for the first time: 2,241 daily A&E cases in May, plus 699 more in other unsuitable places. The report lands as waiting lists rise again and critics warn the figures may still understate the scale of the problem.
It means some sick people are being treated in hallways or other odd places because hospitals are too full. It is like trying to do homework in a noisy hallway instead of a classroom: possible, but not safe or comfortable.
Analysis
For the first time, NHS England has published figures showing how often patients are being treated in places that are not clinically appropriate. In May, there were an average of 2,241 daily cases of corridor care inside A&E units lasting more than 45 minutes, plus 699 patients a day treated in other unsuitable settings such as cupboards, car parks, or toilets. The article says the practice is used when beds are unavailable and that the official definition looks at privacy, access to food and water, and whether noise and lighting allow patients to rest. The data also shows that the problem is not evenly spread: 20 NHS trusts account for more than half of the A&E corridor-care cases. Health leaders quoted in the piece call the practice unacceptable and dangerous, while the president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine says the new figures are welcome but may still miss some of the reality on the ground because of doubts about how corridor care is defined and recorded. The article also ties the issue to wider pressure on the system: England's overall hospital waiting list rose to 7.22 million in May, and 99,781 people had been waiting more than a year to start routine treatment. The health secretary says publishing the data is meant to shine a light on the worst problems and help trusts get support, while NHS leaders say ending corridor care will take time and different local solutions.
Key points
- NHS England published corridor-care figures for the first time.
- In May, there were 2,241 daily A&E corridor-care cases and 699 more in other inappropriate settings.
- Only 20 NHS trusts accounted for more than half of A&E corridor-care cases.
- The overall hospital waiting list rose to 7.22 million in May.
- Health leaders say the practice is unsafe, undignified, and hard to measure consistently.
Publishing the figures could make the problem harder to ignore and help leaders focus support on the trusts with the biggest backlogs. If the data is accurate and used well, it may help target changes that reduce corridor care.
The figures may undercount the real scale if trusts interpret the definition differently or hide cases in the system. If hospital pressure keeps rising, corridor care could stay normalized rather than being eliminated.
