What's happened
The NHS has published the first official data on corridor care, showing an average of 2,241 patients daily in emergency departments and 669 on wards during May. The figures reveal the scale of the problem, concentrated in a minority of trusts, and are accompanied by calls for action to eradicate corridor care.
What's behind the headline?
Key takeaways
- Corridor care has been quantified for the first time, highlighting the scope of the problem across England.
- The data shows a concentration of cases in a subset of trusts, pointing to localized pressures rather than a uniform nationwide issue.
- Health Secretary and NHS leaders have framed this as an urgent priority, promising support to trusts to curb the practice.
What this could mean
- Expect trusts to accelerate bed management and discharge planning, and to expand use of digital triage and bookable appointments as part of a broader push to reduce corridor care.
- The data could inform winter planning, with policymakers under pressure to demonstrate tangible improvements in patient flow.
How we got here
Data released by NHS England for May reveals the scale of corridor care, with trusts reporting significant variations and a plan to reduce reliance on improvised spaces as bed availability pressures persist across NHS hospitals.
Our analysis
The Guardian (Thomas), The Independent (Hughes), The Mirror (Cardy) provide national framing and quotes from NHS leadership; NHS England data releases underpin the figures.
Go deeper
- What exactly is being done to reduce corridor care in the next quarter?
- Which trusts are driving most of the corridor care numbers?
- How will patients be redirected to appropriate spaces without compromising safety?
More on these topics
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NHS England - Non-departmental public body
NHS England is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care. It oversees the budget, planning, delivery and day-to-day operation of the commissioning side of the NHS in England as set out in the Health and Social C
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The Guardian - Newspaper
The Guardian is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as The Manchester Guardian, and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers The Observer and The Guardian Weekly, The Guardian is part of the Guardian Media Group, owned by the S