Corridor care has become such a “permanent fixture” in NHS hospitals that nursing staff are in danger of losing all hope, with some describing the conditions as akin to “torture”.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) today warns collapsing care standards are pushing staff morale almost “past the point of no return”.
The College is reiterating its call for an urgent, fully funded action plan to eradicate the practice, including investment in beds, the nursing workforce, community services and social care.
Nursing staff say the lack of action by governments has left them feeling ashamed and embarrassed about the unsafe, undignified care they are forced to deliver to patients.
It comes as a number of NHS trusts in England declare critical incidents over dangerously high patient demand, leaving hospitals without space in emergency departments or beds to admit patients, with one resorting to repurposing a dining room.
Nursing staff report shocking examples of corridor care, including a patient being left in a chair for four days, and another of a patient dying after choking, undetected in a corridor. Nursing staff have also resorted to holding up white sheets to protect patient dignity when performing intimate procedures, with a corridor in one hospital so tightly packed that an elderly patient was left to eat next to someone vomiting.
A nurse working in the NHS in the South West of England, said: “I imagine patients feel deeply embarrassed, objectified, judged, uncared for, feel a burden on a broken system, wishing they had never bothered to come in and would rather have taken the risk of dying at home than go through the torture. Because that’s what we subject them too, a type of torture.”
Another NHS nurse in the South of England, said: “We would not treat animals like this in a veterinary practice, so why in a hospital?”
It comes as new YouGov public polling shows that as many as two in ten (18%) UK adults have witnessed care being delivered in a corridor or other non-clinical spaces in the last six months. Further RCN analysis shows that when looking only at those who accessed NHS care (for themselves or a loved one), the figure is more than one in three (36%).
In England, the polling also shows that the public want faster action on the issue, with seven in ten (69%) of respondents saying Wes Streeting’s pledge to eradicate the practice in England by the “end of parliament” is “too slow”.
Nine in ten (88%) of respondents across the UK consider tackling unsafe care an “urgent priority”.
The College today publishes its new testimony from members after contacting hundreds of the same nursing staff who contributed to the groundbreaking report: ‘On the Frontline of the UK's Corridor Care Crisis’, published a year ago this week.
The updated testimony shows corridor care – and care in other non-clinical areas – has become further entrenched across NHS hospitals in the UK. Far from the practice being eradicated, nursing staff report treating patients in freezing cold corridors, dining rooms, staff kitchens, offices, seminar rooms, family rooms, deceased viewing rooms and departure lounges. The extent to which the practice has been further normalised is "taking a terrible toll on staff”, says the RCN.
One nurse, working in an NHS hospital in London said: "Six corridors are open. I'm overwhelmed, scared to go to work, and can't face family members with their loved ones."
Another, working in an NHS board in Scotland, said: “It’s very stressful and distressing at times. There’s a sense of frustration and hopelessness”, while a nurse working in an NHS hospital in the South East of England said: “The system is broken and so are we.”
A nurse in the South of England reported “having nightmares” after a patient died in a departure lounge which had been turned into a ward, while a nurse in the West Midlands said: “I go home and worry about my patients and my colleagues being forced to deliver this undignified care. I worry about it a lot and it is something that causes pre-shift anxiety.”
A nurse working in the South East of England said: “Personally, my anxiety is at an all-time high and I will not sleep the day before shift and keep checking online to see the live waiting times to try and prepare myself before I arrive. It’s just awful and there is no end in sight.”
The RCN’s General Secretary and Chief Executive, Professor Nicola Ranger, said ministers mustn’t allow nursing staff to “lose hope” and that “decisive action can restore care standards and stop staff morale collapsing past the point of no return.”
In the testimony, nursing staff consistently raise serious concerns about the impact of corridor care on the elderly, including those with dementia, as well as those with mental ill health.
A nurse in an NHS hospital in the North West of England said: “It breaks my heart being in work and there being a patient, usually elderly, on the corridor and coming back two days later and them still being there,” while a nurse in London said elderly patients regularly spent 24hrs in corridors on trolleys and as a result develop incontinence and pick up respiratory viruses which have led to “extreme critical incidents including death.”
Another nurse in Yorkshire said a terminally ill patient spent a week in a “temporary escalation space”, before being moved into a side room where they died. The nurse said: “I won’t ever forget that.”
A nurse in an NHS mental health ward in Wales said corridor care was now a “regular occurrence”, with staff having to provide more regular monitoring due to an increased risk of self-harm and suicide posed by objects and fittings present in an unsecure corridor. An NHS nurse in the North of England said there was “no privacy to discuss deeply personal information regarding a patient’s mental state and social situation which led to an overdose.”
Nursing staff not only report having a lack of access to vital lifesaving equipment such as oxygen and suction, but also say there are simply too few staff to care for the number of patients being placed in non-clinical areas.
A nurse working in an NHS hospital in the North West of England said trust planning meant no more than six patients should be in the corridor at any one time but that now “it is becoming routine to care for up to 26 patients.” A nurse working in the South East said they are delivering “corridor care in even more inappropriate places. This week we have 30 patients consistently in our ED corridors, along with ambulance holds.”
In Scotland, an NHS nurse working on an acute surgical unit said: “It’s horrible, we are not staffed for these extra patients. We are not able to provide care that we want to a standard we would like. It's creating moral injury and sickness amongst staff.”
The RCN says the testimony shows the unacceptable practice of corridor care is spreading beyond emergency departments, including acute assessment units, respiratory wards, surgical wards and elderly care wards.
Nursing staff declared a “national emergency” over corridor care in June 2024, later releasing a harrowing report in January last year. The UK government committed to publishing the data on incidences of corridor care in England on 5 February 2025 but as of yet has failed to do so.
The RCN, alongside other health organisations, has recently written to NHS England Chief Executive Jim Mackey twice over the issue, but has had no response.
It comes after the UK government’s own patient safety investigator released a report last week highlighting the normalisation of corridor care in NHS trusts in England, with a lack of data capture leaving the government and service leaders unable to determine the harm being done to patients.
The RCN is demanding governments publish national-level data on corridor care, alongside urgent, fully funded action plans to eradicate the practice of care in non-clinical areas. The College says ministers must fund more beds, improve nurse staffing levels, and accelerate investment in community services and social care to improve discharge.
RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive, Professor Nicola Ranger said:
“This new testimony from nursing staff reveals once again the devastating human consequences of corridor care, with patients forced to endure conditions which have no place in our NHS. The fact remains that there can be no safe, dignified care delivered in a corridor, store room or dining room, but that has become the norm. The tragedy is that every day, people are coming to harm just when they need excellent care the most. That is heartbreaking and deeply troubling.
“Nursing staff declared a national emergency on the issue of corridor care over 18 months ago, but far from being eradicated as a practice it’s become a permanent fixture, spreading throughout hospitals and beyond emergency departments. It’s taking a terrible toll on staff, but ministers mustn’t allow them to lose hope. Decisive action can restore care standards and stop staff morale collapsing past the point of no return.
“The public couldn’t be clearer that they want to see swift action to eradicate this practice and rightly consider it an urgent priority for government. Now is the time for ministers to stop dragging their feet and publish the data, alongside announcing a fully funded action plan and timeline for eradication, including investment to boost nurse numbers, increase capacity in community services and provision in social care.”
ENDS
Notes to editors
The RCN made contact with 436 NHS nursing staff across the UK. This was a selection of nursing staff from the 5,841 who had contributed to last year’s major report.
They were asked:
- if they were still having to provide care in inappropriate spaces one year on
- where they had had to deliver care
- how it affected them
- in their opinion, how it affected the person they were caring for
The information gathering took place between Friday 2 January and Friday 9 January.
Further information available on request.
Polling:
All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. This was a UK-wide survey and the total sample size was 2,150 UK adults, of which 1,806 were in England, 171 were in Scotland, and 125 were in Wales. Fieldwork was undertaken between 4 - 5 January 2026. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all UK adults (aged 18).
Timeline:
In June 2024 at its annual congress, the RCN declared a ‘national emergency’ over corridor care in NHS services – LINK
In January 2025, the RCN published a major new report detailing how widespread corridor care was in NHS hospitals across the UK. - LINK
In February 2025, health secretary Wes Streeting committed to publishing data on the prevalence of corridor care in England’s NHS hospitals by “Spring 2025”.
On 3 December 2025 and in response to new RCN analysis, health secretary Wes Streeting said he wanted to eradicate corridor care “over the course of this parliament.”
On 8 January 2026, the HSSIB reported that corridor had become normalised but that trusts and government were unable to determine harm due to a lack of data capture - LINK
On 13 January 2026, health secretary Wes Streeting said in parliament: “We will be shortly setting out our plans for publishing data so we can be held to account as well as the system. I am clear I want corridor care gone over the course of this Parliament.”
