Thousands of NHS patients treated in hospital corridors

Thousands of patients are still being treated in hospital corridors. In Worcestershire and Herefordshire, an average of 67 patients were treated in corridors each day in May.

That works out at more than 2,000 patients across the month. Only one other NHS system in the Midlands reported higher numbers.

Corridor care refers to patients being treated on trolleys or beds in corridors due to a lack of available space.

Dan Boatright-Greene, Lib Dem parliamentary spokesperson for West Worcestershire, said: “This is a damning final scorecard for Wes Streeting as health secretary.

“Corridor care shames the NHS, and represents serious, continual negligence by ministers.

“To have the such appalling statistics in Worcestershire shows more needs to be done to support our NHS.

“Their failure to do anything about social care means our hospitals are full of people desperate to leave while A&E waiting rooms groan with people waiting to be seen.”

Mr Streeting was replaced as health secretary by Ealing North MP James Murray on May 14.

“It is a disaster for the country that Labour has fallen to infighting once again while patients die on hospital trolleys,” said Cllr Boatright-Greene.

“That’s why the Liberal Democrats will be pushing votes in Parliament to force listless and distracted Labour ministers into finally taking action.

“Worcestershire residents deserve better.”

NHS data revealed that nationally, 66,000 patients were treated in corridors in May, averaging more than 2,000 per day.

The Liberal Democrats have called for a legal right for patients to be admitted to A&E within 12 hours, and for ministers to be held accountable through patient tribunals.

The party estimates that £1.5 billion of additional funding could provide 6,000 extra hospital beds daily through expanded hospital capacity, more step-down care, and dedicated social care beds for patients awaiting long-term placements.

The Lib Dems have also proposed amendments to the government’s health bill that would legally ban corridor care and require ministers to regularly appear before bereaved families and NHS staff to explain their actions.

Hayley Flavell, chief nursing officer at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “We recognise that corridor care is unacceptable and creates a poor experience for patients and low morale for our hard-working teams.

“Although always subject to safe staffing levels and careful risk assessment, we are committed to ending its use in line with national guidance and are developing further actions to support improvements.

“Despite continuing to face high levels of demand for our services, we are steadily making progress on improving patient flow through our hospitals.

“We have seen a reduction in ambulance handover delays and shorter lengths of stay in our Emergency Departments over recent weeks as a result of actions already put in place alongside our local health system partners.

“We are continuing to work hard to ensure patients are prioritised appropriately and receive the quality, safety and dignity of care they deserve, as well as continuing to remind our local population to use NHS 111 and alternatives to ED whenever possible.”

Corridor care statistics, collected by NHS England from acute trusts, are a new metric that started to be collected in May 2026.