A damning new report by the Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB) has exposed a critical patient safety crisis in some NHS hospitals: patients are collapsing and deteriorating in corridors, storage rooms, and other hidden spaces where vital clinical supervision is severely lacking or absent. The watchdog's findings highlight a systemic capacity crisis that has escalated from a winter problem into a pervasive, year-round danger.
Overcrowding is forcing hospital trusts to use corridors, storage rooms, gyms, and offices as makeshift care areas, with patients sometimes waiting for days for a proper ward bed. The HSSIB investigation found that these non-clinical spaces lack the most basic safety infrastructure, including minimal monitoring, insufficient access to emergency call systems and oxygen supplies, and a high risk that a medical emergency or collapse will go unnoticed for critical minutes or hours.
The report's findings are corroborated by major medical bodies, who view "corridor care" as a symptom of systemic strain. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) calls it a "damning indictment," while a recent Royal College of Physicians (RCP) survey found nearly 80% of doctors reported providing care in these unsafe, temporary environments. This issue is no longer limited to winter, as a 2025 summer survey found almost 3 in 5 physicians treated patients in such spaces between June and August. Furthermore, evidence from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in November 2024 showed that about one in five hospital inpatients was cared for temporarily in a non-ward space, with many reporting their health worsened while waiting.
Beyond the immediate physical risk, patient dignity is severely compromised, as corridor settings offer no privacy for essential examinations, toileting, or communication of diagnoses, potentially leading to emotional trauma. These unsafe conditions are exacerbated by massive delays in transferring patients from A&E to wards, with FOI data showing patients waiting over 24 hours for a bed, and the longest waits exceeding 10 days.
While NHS England has acknowledged the severity of the situation, updating guidance in late 2025 to state that corridor care is unacceptable, front-line staff remain sceptical. The practice is driven by overwhelming pressures, including record ambulance handovers, high bed occupancy, and critical shortages in social care leading to delayed discharges. NHS England has pledged reforms aimed at ending the practice by 2029, but professional bodies are calling for immediate action and greater transparency. The evidence clearly demonstrates that hospital capacity constraints are translating into real-world danger for patients, underscoring the urgent need for long-term solutions tackling underlying shortages in beds, staff, and community care.
