![\"File](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/SEI_271047251-e524.jpg\")
\n\t\tCorridor care has become an everyday reality across the UK and is putting patients in danger, medical groups have warned (Picture: Jeff Moore\/PA Wire)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tCorridor care has become an everyday reality across the UK and is putting patients in danger, medical groups have warned (Picture: Jeff Moore\/PA Wire)<\/p>\n
A leading doctor has warned that corridor care has become \u2018normalised\u2019 in the NHS as medics struggle with \u2018full to bursting\u2019 A&E departments.<\/a><\/p>\n Dr Ian Higginson, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said there should be \u2018howls of outrage\u2019 over deaths linked to very long waits in emergency wards<\/a> but they are instead treated as everyday life.<\/p>\n Dr Higginson warned that emergency departments around the country \u2018are in big trouble\u2019 \u2013 with corridor care being the main issue.<\/p>\n Earlier this year the college released estimates suggesting there were more than 16,600 deaths of patients linked to very long waits in A&E for a hospital bed in 2024 \u2013 approximately 320 deaths a week.<\/p>\n \u2018If we had 16,000 patients a year dying in bus crashes or in aircraft crashes or anywhere else there would be such howls of outrage something would be done about it,\u2019 Mr Higginson said.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\tSign up for all of the latest stories\t\t\t<\/p>\n Start your day informed with Metro’s News Updates<\/a> newsletter or get Breaking News<\/a> alerts the moment it happens. <\/p>\n \u2018And yet, we can\u2019t understand why those awful statistics don\u2019t provoke really determined action at the highest level across governments.\u2019<\/p>\n The emergency physician warned that staff \u2018can\u2019t deliver care in corridors\u2019 as they are \u2018run ragged\u2019 with the overload.<\/p>\n \u2018Staff are burnt out\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t \u2018Emergency departments across the UK are in big trouble at the moment,\u2019 he said. \u2018The main problem we have is that we have patients in our corridors \u2013 we\u2019re full to bursting.<\/p>\n \u2018And that\u2019s because there aren\u2019t enough beds in our hospitals for us to admit our patients to, and that makes it really difficult for us to look after our patients properly, because we can\u2019t deliver care in corridors.<\/p>\n \u2018And it also creates difficult working conditions for our staff \u2013 our staff at the moment are run ragged, exhausted and suffering from a mixture of either burnout, moral injury or exhaustion<\/a>, PTSD or all of the above.<\/p>\n \u2018And the biggest frustration is that this is a completely fixable problem. <\/p>\n \u2018We know it is. It just requires the political will, the prioritisation and the leadership to make big inroads in it and to make it better.\u2019<\/p>\n Separate analysis has found that almost one in five patients treated in emergency departments in March were cared for in \u2018escalation areas\u2019, meaning spaces not routinely used for care \u2013 such as corridors.<\/p>\n \u2018It will be worse now,\u2019 Dr Higginson said.<\/p>\n Asked whether the service was in for a bad winter, he said: \u2018If you look at general trends, things are getting worse and worse and worse and worse and worse. NHS <\/a>England<\/a> has talked about the green shoots of recovery. <\/p>\n \u2018We just don\u2019t see those at all. I think that is wishful thinking.\u2019<\/p>\n Earlier this month, Health<\/a> Secretary Wes Streeting<\/a> pledged to end corridor care in hospitals in England by the next general election, \u2018if not sooner\u2019.<\/p>\n Dr Higginson said that efforts to resolve the crisis in hospitals around the UK are focusing on \u2018bits that they think are quick and easy and cheap\u2019 \u2013 such as \u2018trying to persuade us not to go to hospital, or looking for alternatives to admission, or setting up things like NHS 111\u2019.<\/p>\n \u2018It\u2019s like trying to put out a fire with buckets of water, whilst at the same time chucking fuel on it from the other side, it\u2019s not going to work<\/a>.\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n \u2018The solutions are to make hospitals more efficient; to provide more staff to beds in hospitals and to improve community based and social care so that patients can leave hospital where they need to.\u2019<\/p>\n Corridor care \u2018normalised\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t Asked if there are any hospitals that are not treating patients in corridors, the qualified GP told the Press Association: \u2018There are probably a very few hospitals that aren\u2019t. They\u2019re likely to be children\u2019s hospitals and children\u2019s emergency departments. But I think you\u2019d find it very hard to find emergency departments that do not have patients in their corridors.<\/p>\n \u2018So it\u2019s a problem that is now so widespread that we have normalised it.<\/p>\n \u2018And I think the fact that we\u2019ve normalised it makes it even harder to persuade people that it\u2019s a problem, because it just becomes an expectation. Patients expect when they come to our departments to have to wait a long time, and they\u2019re not surprised when they are in a corridor.<\/p>\n \u2018Staff are not surprised where patients are in corridors and and I think our leaders and politicians just accept it as normal and therefore don\u2019t have the same urgency behind it as they would do if it was something that\u2019s completely abnormal.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Patients dying unnecessarily\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t Professor Nicola Ranger, chief executive and general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, warned that patients are dying due to the pressures.<\/p>\n \u2018Doctors<\/a> and nursing staff are clear that corridor care is unsafe, undignified and unacceptable,\u2019 she said. <\/p>\n \u2018But what\u2019s almost as shocking as the normalisation of this devastating collapse in care standards is the lack of urgency in sorting it.<\/p>\n \u2018It has been over 18 months since nursing staff declared a national emergency over corridor care.<\/p>\n \u2018The failure to get to grips with the issue means that patients are routinely coming to harm and even dying unnecessarily.\u2019<\/p>\n Prof Ranger also warned of a worsening situation this winter as the cold weather<\/a> set in, affecting non-clinical areas.<\/p>\n \u2018Devastating consequences\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t \u2018It is incredibly dangerous,\u2019 she said.<\/p>\n \u2018Nursing staff want to see a fully funded action plan setting out eradication. This starts with real investment in beds, the nursing workforce in hospitals and the community, and crucially, long-overdue action to boost capacity in social care to improve discharge.<\/p>\n \u2018Patients don\u2019t have years to wait and every day [corridor care] still exists is a policy failure with devastating human consequences.\u2019<\/p>\n Official NHS figures show the number of people waiting more than 12 hours in A&E departments from a decision to admit to actually being admitted in England stood at 50,648 in November.<\/p>\n An NHS England spokesperson said: \u2018It is totally unacceptable that patients are waiting over 12 hours to be admitted to a hospital bed, and in some cases, this wait is occurring in corridors.<\/p>\n \u2018The NHS is working hard to free up beds by ensuring patients are discharged as soon as they are medically fit to leave hospital or cared for closer to home by improved access to appropriate services in the community.<\/p>\n \u2018This winter, specialist NHS productivity and regional experts are working closely with hospitals to drive down incidences of corridor care, and ensuring patients receive the quality of care they deserve.\u2019<\/p>\n A Department of Health<\/a> and Social Care spokesperson said: \u2018No one should receive care in a corridor \u2013 the situation we inherited is unacceptable and undignified, and we are determined to end it.<\/p>\n \u2018Although things are tough right now and the road ahead is long, our investment and modernisation are making a difference and the NHS is showing signs of recovery.<\/p>\n \u2018Compared to last year, more patients are being seen within four hours of arriving at A&E, and ambulance response times are 10 minutes faster for conditions like stroke or chest pain.\u2019<\/p>\n Arrow Arrow Arrow![\"EMBARGOED](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/SEI_272406566-f478.jpg\")
\n\t\tDr Ian Higginson warned of the pressure on staff as the NHS struggles to meet the burden of emergency patient numbers (Picture: Jeff Moore\/PA Wire)<\/p>\n![\"EMBARGOED](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/SEI_279219997-e85e.jpg\")
\n\t\tHealth secretary Wes Streeting has come under fire over the government\u2019s record on cutting waiting times at A&E (Picture: Stefan Rousseau\/PA Wire)<\/p>\n![\"File](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/SEI_257271884-2430.jpg\")
\n\t\tThe NHS is under pressure as it goes into the winter season which brings an influx of patients (Picture: Jeff Moore\/PA Wire)<\/p>\n![\"Mandatory](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/SEI_277305399-0d92.jpg\")
\n\t\tLong ambulance waits are another feature of the pressure on A&E departments (Picture: Andy Rain\/EPA-EFE\/Shutterstock)<\/p>\n
\nMORE: Patients being treated in ambulances \u2018used as A&E cubicles\u2019 at overburdened hospitals <\/a><\/p>\n
\nMORE: Ambulance workers \u2018exhausted\u2019 after staff vacancies rise to more than 3,000<\/a><\/p>\n
\nMORE: Nurse joins strike after 12-hour shift and warns \u2018we\u2019re at breaking point\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n