Scale of A&E crisis laid bare as one in five patients treated in corridors or waiting rooms

Patients are being forced to wait two days for a bed as corridor care become ‘endemic’

One in five patients in need of urgent care are being treated in corridors with some patients waiting two days for a bed, according to a new study.

Research has exposed the scale of the UK’s A&E crisis revealing that the “shameful practice of corridor care is endemic” and has become “routine”.

The study, carried out by Royal College of Emergency Medicine’s (RCEM) Trainee Emergency Research Network (Tern), analysed five snapshots taken from 165 A&E departments in March 2025.

It revealed more than 10,000 people were receiving care in "escalation areas” - any area not routinely used for care such as corridors, waiting rooms, doubled-up cubicles and ambulances waiting outside to offload for more than 15 minutes.

The proportion of escalation area patients in non-clinical areas such as corridors ranged from 54.5 per cent to 61.1 per cent, according to the study.

One in five patients treated in the corridor, study reveals (Jeff Moore/PA) (PA Wire)

“National guidance states escalation area use is not acceptable; this research demonstrates it is routine,” researchers said.

The study also highlighted the “significant patient safety issue” of more than a quarter of sites without any immediate resuscitation cubicle capacity.

Dr Ian Higginson, president of the RCEM, said the study, published in the Emergency Medicine Journal, “reinforces that the shameful practice of corridor care is endemic in emergency departments in the UK”.

“The stark picture this paper paints reflects the stories we hear from our members nationwide – the volume of which are growing as we head into winter,” he added.

“Just this week, one member told us of a patient having to wait two days for a bed in their department.

“It’s important to note that these patients may be elderly, vulnerable, have mental health issues, or be children. They have been failed by successive governments.

“We are very concerned about the harm associated with long waits in emergency departments and how it puts patients’ lives at risk – for every 72 patients who wait between eight and 12 hours before admission, there is one excess death. This should not be happening in a wealthy country.”

There were more than 200,000 A&E attendances last winter for conditions that could have been dealt with elsewhere, recent NHS data highlighted.

This included 8,669 attendances for itchy skin, 96,998 for a sore throat and 384 for hiccups.

But Dr Higginson stressed corridor care “can’t be blamed on hiccups or flu”, and said he fears this winter “we will see gridlock”.

Dr Higginson said that it is “worrying” that the snapshots were taken in March and not the peak of winter.

He said this “shows that corridor care is an issue all year round”.

It comes after Wes Streeting pledged to end corridor care by 2029 if not “sooner”.

But experts last week warned The Independent that the health secretary’s ambition is all-but impossible if the government wants the NHS to make strides on hitting its raft of other targets, including bringing down waiting lists.

Dr Higginson added: “It is abundantly clear that this hasn’t been given the priority it deserves.

“So whilst we were pleased to hear the promise from the secretary for health and social care to eradicate corridor care in England by 2029, it is vital that action is taken now across the four nations.

“The priority is to improve the way hospitals work, and to ensure that patients who don’t need a hospital bed aren’t in one, rather than focusing on redirection measures at the emergency department’s front door.

“Only then will we start to see patients moving out of our corridors, into the beds they need.

“This study shows the urgency of the situation. We cannot wait years for things to improve.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Corridor care is unacceptable, undignified, and has no place in our NHS.

“That is why we will be publishing corridor waiting figures for the first time, so we can take the steps needed to eradicate it from our health service. Sunlight is the best disinfectant.

“It will take time to turn around the shocking situation we inherited, but we are already seeing green shoots of recovery, with ambulances arriving 10 minutes faster to stroke and heart attack patients than last year and handovers also almost 10 minutes quicker.”

An NHS England spokesperson said: “We know that too many patients are being cared for in corridors, and this should never happen.

“NHS teams have been working hard to limit this unacceptable way of caring for patients, while doing more to prepare for winter earlier than ever before. Our focus is firmly on getting patients out of corridors, keeping more ambulances on the road and enabling people who are ready to leave hospital to do so as quickly and safely as possible.

“Unfortunately, planned industrial action by resident doctors will only make this ambition much more challenging to deliver, coming at a time when we are facing steep rises in flu pressures.”