The letter, collectively signed by Age Cymru, BMA Cymru Wales, Carers Wales, Llais, Marie Curie Cymru, Royal College of Nursing Wales, Royal College of Emergency Medicine Wales, Royal College of Pharmacy and Royal College of Physicians, sets out immediately actionable steps that Welsh Government can take, including:
- Publishing a formal definition of corridor care and nation-wide reporting (which is already taking place in England)
- Monitoring Corridor care as a patient safety indicator within NHS Wales performance
- Requiring health boards to create local plans, focussing on most vulnerable patients
- Work with co-signing organisations to deliver a coordinated approach across health and care services to end corridor care
- Co-signing organisations have expressed that Welsh Government should make a public commitment to these actions before the Senedd’s last sitting day before summer recess on 17 July.
RCN Wales Executive Director Nicola Williams said:
“Earlier this month, we welcomed the Cabinet Minister for Health and Care’s determination to address corridor care following England’s first publication of corridor care statistics. I have also been encouraged by the verbal commitments I have received from Welsh Government officials that echo our priorities of a clear, consistent definition of corridor care across Wales, and the development of a data set for use across NHS Wales for public reporting.
“Corridor care continues to happen every day across most hospitals in Wales putting patients' wellbeing and lives at risk and affecting the morale of nursing staff who cannot give the care that patients deserve. We must be able to quantify this problem if we are to eliminate it.
“It is essential that the RCN is involved in the work to eradicate corridor care. We must be involved as the voice of the nursing workforce as nursing staff are both at the forefront of this crisis and a vital part of the solution.”
Notes to editors
In England, a formal definition of corridor care has been published, as well as national data on the scale and frequency of corridor care incidences. There remains no such definition in Wales and no routine reporting.
RCN Wales has continued to engage Welsh Government in its campaign to end corridor care. As part of its campaign, RCN Wales has
Sent a joint letter with BMA Cymru to the last Welsh Government in response to the UK government’s publication of a definition of corridor care in England. Now, organisations in Wales want this to remain at the top of the health agenda in Wales under the new Welsh Government
- Set out actions for the next Welsh Government to end corridor care in the RCN Wales manifesto: Stronger Nursing, Stronger Nation: Wales votes in 2026 | Royal College of Nursing
- Held hustings for all parts of Wales during the Senedd election campaign, where members raised corridor care at every event
- Published results of the RCN Wales member survey in which 61.8% of our members working in NHS Wales hospitals reported corridor care is a problem where they work, including majorities in every region of Wales
- Wrote jointly with BMA to the former cabinet secretary in March asking the Welsh Government to develop a national definition of corridor care and begin publishing official data, as the UK government has done for England
- As a result of joint campaigning with the BMA, the last health and social committee has asked its successor committee in this new Senedd to consider holding an inquiry into corridor care.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is the voice of nursing across the UK, including around 35,000 members in Wales. The RCN promotes the interests of nursing and patients on a wide range of issues and helps shape health care policy.
For more information, contact the RCN Wales communications and media team on 02920 680 769 or mediawales@rcn.org.uk
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