Nursing staff are warning that patients face a “devastating” winter as new analysis reveals a rise in 12-hour waits for hospital admission – a 90-fold increase in just six years. We believe ministers have acted with “insufficient urgency” since last winter, failing to invest in hospital and community capacity or boost staffing levels. 

Between July and September this year, 116,141 patients waited more than 12 hours in A&E after a decision to admit, compared to just 1,281 in 2019 – an increase of almost 9,000%. Over the same period, overnight bed capacity has grown by only 2%, adding just 2,192 beds. That means 52 patients who are sick enough to be admitted competing for each additional bed.

The situation is compounded by limited capacity in community and social care, leaving thousands stuck in hospital despite being ready for discharge. NHS discharge data from October 2025 showed an average of 13,117 patients stayed in hospital each day despite being ready for discharge – up 6% on last year.

This analysis is included in a briefing paper titled Bracing for winter: a close look at NHS emergency and elective care in England and its implications for corridor care.

In the Westminster government’s Urgent and Emergency Care Plan For 2025/26, NHS leaders and the government committed to publishing data on incidences of corridor care, however almost six months later this has failed to materialise.

Ministers must deliver on this commitment and fund more beds, improve nurse staffing levels, and accelerate investment in community services.

Pressures on services mean more patients are also leaving A&E without treatment, jumping from 100,000 in 2019 to more than 320,000 in 2025. This reflects growing frustration with under-staffed, under-resourced services struggling to meet demand.

“Nursing staff and patients alike endured a horrendous winter last year, with corridor care rife across every service. Worryingly, after no respite in the summer, the signs point to the coming colder months being devastating and more dangerous for patients,” said Professor Nicola Ranger, RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive.

She added: “Nursing staff have repeatedly warned about a corridor care national emergency, but the lack of urgency in tackling the crisis is unacceptable. Bed capacity has remained static, nurse numbers in hospitals haven’t increased to the level required and community services are not being invested in anywhere near fast enough. Yet again this winter, nursing staff have been set up to fail and patients set up to suffer.”

In the absence of published data on corridor care, waits of 12 hours or more are the clearest indicator of corridor care taking place in hospitals, with staff unable to move people to a ward despite them being unwell enough to be admitted.

Corridor care means patients are treated on trolleys, chairs, and even in cupboards or offices, often without access to lifesaving equipment like oxygen and suction. Nursing staff report patients enduring intimate examinations in public areas, while temporary escalation spaces are counted as safe, clinical “beds” in official figures – masking the true scale of the crisis.

In January this year, thousands of nursing staff shared devastating testimony of patients enduring corridor care, with some dying and being undiscovered for hours. In May 2024, we declared a “national emergency” over the issue of corridor care. 

“To consign corridor care to history where it belongs, we need ministers to boost capacity at the front door, delivering new funding to improve staffing levels and the number of beds in hospitals. At the back door, we need to see a much more rapid timeline of investment to grow staff and provision in primary, community care and social care. Ministers must also stop delaying publishing the data on just how widespread corridor care is. Patients deserve transparency over care standards,” Nicola said.

If corridor care is happening at your workplace, it’s important to raise concerns. Find out more in our raising concerns toolkit. You can also find out about further support available from the RCN on our website.