The RCN says the practice must end urgently, as testimony from members shows its damaging effects
Corridor care has become such a permanent fixture in NHS hospitals that nursing staff are in danger of “losing all hope”, with collapsing care standards devastating morale, according to new testimony from nursing staff.
The Royal College of Nursing is reiterating its call for urgent, fully funded action plans to eradicate the practice, including investment in beds, the nursing workforce, community services and social care.
Nursing staff say the lack of action by governments has left them feeling “ashamed”, “angry”, and “embarrassed” about the unsafe, undignified care they are forced to deliver to patients.
The RCN is aware of a worsening picture this week as hospitals declare critical incidents and is encouraging members to raise any concerns about patient or staff safety. Read on to find out how we can offer practical support.
Our members report shocking examples of a patient being left in a chair for four days, while another patient died after choking undetected in a corridor.
Nursing staff have also resorted to holding up sheets to protect patient dignity when performing intimate procedures, with a corridor in one hospital so tightly packed that an elderly patient was left to eat next to someone vomiting.
One nurse in the south of England said: “We would not treat animals like this in a veterinary practice, so why in a hospital?”
Another, working in an NHS board in Scotland, told us: “It’s very stressful and distressing at times. There’s a sense of frustration and hopelessness.”
A mental health nurse in Wales said corridor care is a “regular occurrence”, with staff having to increase monitoring because unsecured corridors contain objects and fittings that raise the risk of self‑harm and suicide.
A nurse in Northern Ireland said: “I’ve had resuscitation attempts in the waiting room and corridor due to no capacity. It is inhuman and undignified.”
Practical support for nursing staff
- If corridor care is happening at your workplace, it’s important to raise your concerns. Find out more in our raising concerns toolkit and get information on RCN support available from member support services.
- Also, RCN health and safety reps have a legal right to carry out a workplace inspection and can use the RCN corridor care inspection checklist to do this.
More than 18 months since we declared a national emergency on corridor care, and a year after we released a report featuring devastating testimony from our members, it is clear corridor care is being normalised and entrenched.
We believe this latest testimony shows the unacceptable practice of corridor care is spreading beyond emergency departments, including acute assessment units, respiratory wards, surgical wards and elderly care wards.
Professor Nicola Ranger, RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive, said: “This new testimony from nursing staff reveals once again the devastating human consequences of corridor care, with patients forced to endure conditions which have no place in our NHS.”
As a result of our pressure, the Westminster government committed to publishing data on incidences of corridor care in England in February 2025, but so far has failed to do so.
The HSSIB – the patient safety investigation body for England – released a report in January 2026 on the widespread and normalised nature of corridor care, highlighting that some trusts are reportedly installing call bells and plug sockets in corridors.
As many as two in 10 (18%) UK adults have witnessed NHS care in non-clinical spaces such as a corridor in the last six months, according to new YouGov public polling. Further RCN analysis shows that when looking at only those who accessed care, the figure is more than one in three (37%).
The polling also shows the public want faster action on the issue, with seven in 10 (69%) of respondents in England saying Health Secretary Wes Streeting’s pledge to eradicate the practice by the end of parliament is “too slow”.
“The fact remains that there can be no safe, dignified care delivered in a corridor, store room or dining room, but that has become the norm,” Nicola added.
“It’s taking a terrible toll on staff, but ministers mustn’t allow them to lose hope. Decisive action can restore care standards and stop staff morale collapsing past the point of no return.
“Now is the time for ministers to stop dragging their feet and publish the data, alongside announcing a fully funded action plan and timeline for eradication.”
We want to thank our members who have raised their voices on corridor care to show why this issue matters and why it demands urgent action.
RCEM: Nurses’ corridor care testimonies ‘distressing, damning’
NURSE: ‘CONDITIONS ARE A TYPE OF TORTURE’
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) has described new testimony from nurses about the state of corridor care across the UK as ‘distressing, damning and exactly what we see every single day in our departments’.
And the College says this reinforces the need to address this crisis.
More than 430 nurses described the conditions they are working in and what patients are enduring in a survey conducted by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), that has been published today (15 January 2026).
Just some examples shared include how a nurse witnessed a patient left in a chair for four days, a patient dying after choking undetected in a corridor and nurses holding up sheets to try and protect the dignity of a patient while they underwent an intimate procedure.
One nurse went as far as saying the conditions are “a type of torture”.
Their accounts were gathered between 2 January and 9 January 2026, revealing nursing staff are treating patients in cold corridors, dining rooms, staff kitchens and offices.
The experiences of nurses build on and updates the RCN’s report published this week last year, titled ‘On the frontline of the UK’s corridor care crisis’.
Dr Ian Higginson, President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine said: “This work by the Royal College of Nursing makes for incredibly tough reading. It’s distressing, damning and exactly what we see every single day in our departments.
“These deeply personal testimonies aren’t just stories – it’s the daily reality for patients and their nurses, who work alongside our members and their colleagues in Emergency Departments.
“Last year, when RCN released their first report on corridor care, we said that it must represent a watershed moment for the government, a line in the sand. Yet, 365 days on, the nurses voices show our patients are still in corridors, and there is no credible plan to get them out.
“So called ‘corridor care’ takes an immense toll on patients, who will be facing long waits in these conditions. And it takes an immense toll on our clinicians who are trying their upmost best to deliver quality care in these conditions.
“Our patients are being forced to endure these conditions, often for hours, if not days, because hospitals are full to bursting. We can’t move patients out of our departments, and into wards, because there are no available beds for them.
“Those beds are often taken up by patients who have experienced delays in their care, and who no longer need to be in hospital, but can’t leave, because of the lack of social care options.”
The new report also contains public polling which found:
- As many as two in ten (18%) UK adults have witnessed care being delivered in a corridor or other non-clinical spaces in the last six months.
- 88% of respondents across the UK said tackling unsafe care is an urgent priority
- Meanwhile in England, 69% said Wes Streeting’s pledge to end corridor care by the end of parliament is too slow.
Dr Higginson said: “Nurses have given their verdict loud and clear. So too have our members, and the public – they all want the crisis in EDs tackled with urgency.
“The Health Secretary said this week the government is ‘determined to consign corridor care to the history books’ and has committed to ending corridor care by the end of 2029. We welcome this. This problem can’t be solved quickly. It has been years in the making. But we do need a credible plan that starts now.
“We look forward to working with the government, and healthcare leaders, to implement meaningful solutions, many of which lie outside the walls of our EDs.”
It comes after the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Emergency Care last year published a report, compiled by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, on corridor care. It found almost one in five patients in EDs were being cared for in trolleys or chairs in corridors in England during summer.
