‘National shame’: 3000 patients a day cared for in corridors

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By Jane Kirby, Ian Jones and Ella Pickover, PA Media

Nearly 3,000 patients every day were cared for in hospital corridors or makeshift treatment areas in England last month, according to official data.

NHS England published figures for the first time on so-called “corridor care”, when a patient is cared for in a place that is not a clinically appropriate and safe setting.

The British Medical Association (BMA) said the figures were a “source of national shame” while the King’s Fund said the data “confirm the scale of something that should never have been normalised in the NHS”.

The think tank also pointed out that providing corridor care is distressing for staff.

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) welcomed the publication of the data but questioned its accuracy - saying results the college had collected were much higher.

The criteria used for defining an appropriate setting includes patients having privacy, access to food, water and toilets, and whether lights can be turned off and noise levels minimised to allow sleep.