Corridor Care in the NHS: Rising Risks and Potential Compensation Claims

Known as corridor care, this practice occurs when hospitals, overwhelmed by intense demand, place patients in hallways, waiting rooms or other non-clinical areas because no appropriate beds are available.

While it may provide a temporary solution to the operational challenge of overcrowding, corridor care has serious implications for patient safety, dignity and the standards of care the NHS is expected to uphold.

For law firms like ours specialising in medical negligence, the rise of corridor care is particularly concerning: falling standards can increase the risk of avoidable harm, which in turn may drive an increase in compensation claims.

In this blog, we look further into the potential consequences of corridor care.

What Is Corridor Care in the NHS?

Temporary care environments, aka corridor care, refers to situations where patients are treated in non-clinical areas due to bed shortages. These spaces often include beds/trolleys in corridors, side rooms, storage areas, office spaces, and chairs on wards.

The use of temporary care environments is tied to system-wide patient flow issues between hospital admission and discharge, including delayed discharges, limited inpatient beds and delays in diagnostics or specialist reviews.

This has created a pressure cooker environment where demand for beds exceeds capacity. Demand for care is so intense that hospitals are even having to turn dining rooms, staff kitchens and rooms for viewing the deceased into overspill care areas.

Patients treated in temporary care environments are not always afforded the same level of care they would normally receive on a ward. They often experience lack of monitoring, no dignity and privacy, and exposure to infection risks.

It’s also a health and safety issue, with trolleys, chairs and medical equipment blocking access.

The Scale of the Problem: How common Is Corridor Care in NHS hospitals?

Corridor care is not rare. In recent years, corridor care has shifted from being an occasional crisis response during winter to a recurring feature of NHS hospitals all year round. It has become endemic, spreading beyond emergency departments into everywhere from acute assessment units to respiratory and surgical wards.

The problem is so widespread that only a few hospitals in the UK are managing to avoid it.

In February 2025, a survey by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) found that four in five doctors had provided care in a temporary environment in the previous month (January 2025). By September that same year, there were still three in five (59%) doctors who had carried out corridor care over the summer period.

Around 90% of those doctors reported compromised patient privacy and dignity, and 58% saw patient safety directly affected because of unsuitable care environments.

Other recent statistics show:

• Around 18% of patients waiting for a hospital bed are placed in corridors and hallways because no ward space is available.
• The proportion of people waiting far too long for a bed after arriving at hospital more than doubled from 7.9% in 2020 to 17.8% in 2024.
• In 2024/25, 532,500 patients (11%) waited more than 12 hours from the decision to admit to actually being admitted to a ward - up significantly from 98,600 (2%) in 2021/22.
• Nearly 25.5% waited more than six hours for a bed, and 9.8% waited over 24 hours in A&E before a ward space was available.
• The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) estimated that 16,600 deaths are linked to very long A&E waits for hospital beds, around 320 per week.
• In 2025, there were 12,906 delayed discharges per day – the worst on record

However, according to the recent HSSIB report published in January 2026, the patient safety investigation body found that there is poor and inconsistent data collection about how often these environments are used and the length of time patients spend in them, meaning the true impact on safety is poorly understood.

Some trusts even use different terminology, masking actual usage levels and making national oversight harder.

The Human Cost: Patients and their families left feeling dehumanised

People are the reason this issue matters. Being treated on a trolley in a corridor or from a waiting room chair rather than a hospital bed on a ward makes patients feel like they don’t matter.

One recurring theme is that patients often feel 'forgotten' in corridors because staff are stretched and struggling to prioritise multiple demands.

There have been examples where some patients have been left in chairs for days, others have had burns from being left in their own urine and excrement, and many have been forced to watch or hear other patients be resuscitated or die on corridors due to lack of privacy.

Over 40 percent of patients waiting for admission reported their health deteriorated during the wait, with 17–18% saying it got 'much worse.'

When this clinical deterioration is not spotted in time, the consequences can be devastating.

A post-surgery patient spent over 12 hours on a trolley in a corridor, leading to delayed treatment for complications.

In one sad case, a patient choked to death on a corridor after their condition went undetected by staff.

Families are rightly calling it ‘disgusting’, up in arms that their loved ones are being treated worse than animals. It’s distressing to see someone you care about not being cared for properly.

Even Lib Dem peer, Lord Chris Rennard, has called out the issue of corridor care in Parliament after his 110-year-old mother-in-law spent the night on a trolley in a Liverpool hospital corridor without food and drink due to a lack of available beds.

Common experiences reported by patients and families include:

• Being left on a trolley in a busy corridor with little privacy
• Difficulty sleeping due to constant noise and foot traffic
• Limited access to toilets or assistance
• Delays in pain relief, medication or specialist review
• Feeling anxious, embarrassed or dehumanised

Clinical Risks of Corridor Care

Medical experts have long warned that corridor care increases the risk of harm.

The HSSIB report highlighted various patient safety concerns including:

Monitoring & Observation Challenges: Difficulties maintaining timely observations and detecting deterioration, especially when patients are out of sight or in narrow corridors. Patients in corridors are less likely to receive regular vital sign checks. This can delay the identification of sepsis, internal bleeding or cardiac complications.

Emergency Response Risks: Staff expressed explicit concerns about calling for help and responding to emergencies when patients are placed out of direct view or in unsuitable physical spaces.

Privacy and Dignity Compromised: Many patients report feeling unsafe or uncomfortable discussing health or personal needs due to lack of private space. Lack of privacy can be humiliating and distressing, particularly for vulnerable patients.

Infection and Functional Risks: Corridors are high-traffic areas and may lack basic infrastructure (e.g., piped oxygen, suction, proper infection control), increasing risk for patients contracting hospital-acquired infections.

Delayed Treatment and Increased Risk of Errors: Being outside a ward can slow access to diagnostic tests, specialist input or emergency intervention. Overworked staff caring for patients in unsuitable environments are more likely to make mistakes.

Medical professionals call out collapsing care standards

Corridor care doesn’t just affect patients. Clinicians themselves are acknowledging how detrimental the normalisation of corridor care is for both patient safety and their own wellbeing.

Many staff say that caring in these environments felt not what they trained for, and continuing to work in such conditions is contributing to burnout and emotional strain.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) declared corridor care a national emergency over 18 months ago in June 2024. With no urgent action by the government taken since, they now say that nursing staff are at risk of ‘losing all hope’ due to collapsing care standards and devastating morale.

They’re frustrated, ashamed, angry and embarrassed by the unsafe and undignified care they’re being forced to deliver to patients.

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) has said that it’s not possible to provide safe and good care in temporary environments. They say long trolley waits and corridor care are ‘stains on our health system’ and must be tackled with urgency by policymakers.

And the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) deemed it unsafe and unacceptable for both patients and staff.

Healthcare professionals are calling for an urgent, fully-funded action plan to eradicate this practice. The RCN is insisting the government invests in beds, its workforce, community services and social care. However, there seems no immediate rush to resolve this matter, with the health secretary Wes Streeting pledging to end corridor care by 2029 – some three years away.

NHS Standards and Patient Rights

The NHS Constitution sets out patients’ rights to safe, effective and dignified care for all patients. Similarly, the Care Quality Commission requires hospitals to provide care in appropriate environments.

Key standards that corridor care can breach include:

• The right to privacy and dignity
• The right to safe and timely treatment
• The requirement for appropriate clinical monitoring
• The duty to minimise avoidable harm

The NHS’ own position on corridor care is that it is unacceptable and should not be normalised, that it is of ‘clinical and moral imperative’ to eradicate it.

It’s overarching principles are that corridor care should never be acceptable and must be avoided for patients who are:

• Children
• Severely frail
• Have mental health
• Have a learning disability, neurodivergence or autism
• Are physically disabled
• Have dementia, confusion or delirium
• Are confirmed or suspected infectious
• Have a NEWS 2 score of 5 or above
• Are pregnant or breastfeeding
• Receiving end of life care

Sadly, this is not the case in reality and an increasing number of vulnerable patients who fall into one of these categories are being treated in temporary care environments.

Trusts are implementing varied strategies to manage risks, including adapting physical spaces, positioning temporary care areas near nursing stations, or using electronic monitoring boards.

However, there is no standardised approach across hospitals, leading to a wide variation in how safety measures are applied.

When does Corridor Care become medical negligence?

Not every case of corridor care will automatically lead to a legal claim. However, a claim may be possible where:

1. There was a duty of care — which NHS hospitals always owe to patients.
2. There was a breach of that duty — for example, failing to monitor a patient properly while they were in a corridor.
3. The breach caused direct harm — such as a delayed diagnosis, worsening condition, or preventable complication.

Patients who experience harm while in corridors may be eligible for compensation if care fell below accepted standards. This could include a patient developing sepsis that went unnoticed due to inadequate monitoring in a corridor, a fall from a trolley that could have been prevented with proper supervision, or a delay in treatment leading to permanent injury or death.

As NHS Resolution publishes annual claims data, we are yet to see any exact figures about corridor care claims emerging. However, it will be interesting to see if, as corridor care becomes even more entrenched, there is a rise in claims linked to delays in diagnosis, delayed treatment, hospital-acquired complications, or psychological distress.

Practical advice for patients affected by Corridor Care

If you or a loved one experienced corridor care:

• Document your experience: Record times, conditions, and delays. Take photos where appropriate
• Request medical records: These are crucial for any claim.
• Gather witness statements: From staff, family, or other patients.
• Seek legal advice promptly: Clinical negligence claims usually work to a three-year time limit.