Overwhelmed NHS treating almost 3,000 A&E patients a day in corridors, cupboards and cafes

The NHS is treating nearly 3,000 sick patients a day in corridors, cupboards and cafes because emergency departments are overwhelmed, new figures have revealed.

Data published for the first time has laid bare the scale of the NHS’ “corridor care” crisis, which experts warn has become “normalised” within the health service and is leaving patients being treated without “privacy or dignity”.

More than 2,200 patients received care in a corridor of an A&E department every day in May, the data shows, while another 669 patients were treated in other inappropriate settings such as cupboards, cafes or toilets due to a lack of beds in emergency departments.

Any patient who spends 45 minutes or more in areas deemed as clinically inappropriate – such as hallways or waiting rooms – are considered to have experienced corridor care, according to the NHS. Other examples of areas used include car parks, waiting rooms and toilets.

The NHS’ corridor care crisis has been well-documented, with reports of patients dying while waiting for care. Diabetic patients have been left for hours without food, while other sick patients have said they were left on broken beds in pitch-black corridors for 24 hours with no privacy, according to a review of patient care in emergency departments in December by the group Healthwatch England.

Speaking after the figures were released, health secretary James Murray said: “Corridor care is unacceptable, undignified and has no place in our NHS.”

He said the new data aims to “shine a spotlight” on where the problems are greatest and stressed the “vast majority” of corridor care is in a small number of organisations.

But one expert warned that corridor care had been “normalised”. Siva Anandaciva, director of policy at The King’s Fund, said patients are routinely being treated “without privacy or dignity.”

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Source: Independent, 11 June 2026

Further reading on the hub:

• Corridor care improvement guide: A summary guide to support services to reduce corridor care
• Corridor care and long waits: what are people experiencing in A&E? 
• Corridor care guidance needs to move beyond what “should” happen and grapple honestly with why it isn’t
• How corridor care in the NHS is affecting safety culture