Almost one in five patients attending major emergency departments in England were treated on trolleys or chairs in corridors this summer, a new report has found.
The report1 by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) and the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Emergency Medicine found that 19% of patients across 58 type 1 emergency departments surveyed received care in inappropriate spaces between 30 July and 13 August 2025. More than a third (34.5%) of departments also reported patients being cared for in ambulances waiting outside hospitals.
While so called “corridor care” has frequently been reported in winter, it is also becoming a problem in the traditionally quieter summer months.
The APPG carried out an inquiry into overcrowding in emergency departments after the RCEM estimated that more than 16 600 deaths were associated with long waits for admission in 2024.
“Patients are being let down and left for hours, many in hospital corridors,” said APPG chair and emergency physician Rosena Allin-Khan at the launch of the report. “It is unsafe, undignified, and symptomatic of an NHS that is …
