9 December 2025
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) has welcomed a new paper which highlights the issue of corridor care and the risks it poses to patients – and has called on governments across the UK to fast track efforts to tackle the problem.
Around one-fifth of patients in UK Emergency Departments (EDs) are being routinely subjected to corridor care where they have to be treated in a hallway, a converted office, waiting room, or other non-clinical space.
The new study, published in the Emergency Medicine Journal (EMJ), by the RCEM’s Trainee Emergency Research Network (TERN), highlights the prevalence of this nationwide issue, with every nation in the UK affected. It provides hard, peer reviewed, evidence of the shocking extent of corridor care and represents a considerable achievement by resident doctors who work in Emergency Medicine.
In England NHS England has yet to follow through on its commitment to publish data on the prevalence of corridor care. There is no published data elsewhere in the four nations. This paper provides proof, if proof were needed, that this problem is real, and endemic.
The paper, called: “Understanding corridor and escalation area care in 165 UK emergency departments: A multicentre cross sectional snapshot study,” looks at the negative effects of patient overcrowding and found that at any single point in time, almost one-fifth of all ED patients were receiving corridor care, with some patients having to sit in a chair overnight rather than in a bed.
Dr Ian Higginson, President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said: “We welcome this important study done by the RCEM’s TERN, which 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. 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 EDs and how it puts patients’ lives at risk – for every 72 patients who wait between 8-12 hours before admission, there is one excess death. This should not be happening in a wealthy country.
“It is also worrying that these findings were from March and not in the peak of winter, which shows that corridor care is an issue all year round. It can’t be blamed on hiccups or flu. We fear this winter we will see gridlock.
“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 focussing on redirection measures at the ED’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. Patients and hard-working ED staff have been frustrated by the lack of action across the UK, and deserve better from their health service leaders, and politicians.”
In a commentary piece linked to the study, and published in the EMJ, Dr Higginson and former RCEM President, Dr Adrian Boyle, explore the finding’s implications and reflect on what the results mean for patient safety, performance and future policy direction.
They argue: “ED crowding risks being seen as a wicked problem by politicians, other specialties and managers, while recent history shows that this is an entirely fixable problem, provided the effort is directed into the right area.”