Corridor care is one of the clearest signs that the NHS is under dangerous strain.
Patients left waiting on trolleys and chairs for hours or even days. Care delivered in hallways with no privacy. Staff forced to make impossible decisions in unsafe conditions. These are not rare exceptions as they are becoming a routine feature of an overstretched system.
That’s why EveryDoctor launched a campaign calling on the Government to act on corridor care as a patient safety emergency, not a logistical inconvenience.
Thousands of supporters wrote to the Department of Health and Social Care, urging ministers to take responsibility for ending the practice and to be transparent about how widespread it has become.
The Government’s response
We have now received a reply from the Minister for Health, Karin Smyth.
In it, the Minister states that corridor care is “not acceptable and should not be considered standard”. She refers to existing plans, future clinical standards, funding allocations, and long-term reforms designed to improve patient flow and reduce pressure on hospitals.
On the surface, this sounds reassuring. But when we examined the response closely, it became clear that it does not answer the most urgent questions being raised by NHS staff and patients.
What the response doesn’t say
- The Minister’s reply does not acknowledge the scale of corridor care happening right now.
- It does not give a date for when data on corridor care will be published.
- It does not say who is accountable when corridor care occurs.
- And it does not confirm that corridor care will not be used as a planning assumption within the NHS.
Instead, responsibility is repeatedly pushed into the future, to new plans, new standards, and new models of care, while patients and staff continue to face unsafe conditions today.
Agreeing that corridor care is “not acceptable” is meaningless if there is no clear action when it happens.
Why this matters
Corridor care is not just uncomfortable or undignified. It is a patient safety risk.
Staff working in corridors cannot properly monitor patients, maintain privacy, or deliver timely care. Many clinicians have told us they are deeply distressed by being asked to work in conditions they know are unsafe and fearful of speaking out.
Without transparency, accountability and clear national direction, corridor care risks becoming quietly normalised.
What we’re doing next
That’s why we’ve launched a second letter campaign.
This follow-up letter responds directly to the Minister’s reply and asks clear, reasonable questions:
- When will corridor care data be published?
- Who is responsible for preventing corridor care when it occurs?
- What immediate action is taken to protect patients?
- And how are staff protected when they raise concerns?
This is not about scoring political points. It’s about ensuring that patient safety failures are treated as emergencies not managed away with vague assurances.
If corridor care is truly “not acceptable”, then delay and deflection are not acceptable either.
We will keep pressing until there is transparency, accountability and meaningful action./
“We have heard ministers say that corridor care is ‘not acceptable’. What we have not yet heard is how it will be stopped, who is accountable when it happens, or when the public will see the data. Until those questions are answered, patients will continue to be placed at risk and staff will continue to work in unsafe conditions. That’s why we’re asking supporters to write again — politely, persistently and in large numbers — to demand the clarity and action that patient safety requires.”
Dr Julia Patterson
CEO, EveryDoctor
