“The corridors were lined with patients on trolleys, hooked up to drips, some moaning in pain. It reminded me of war films, with queues of stretchers and people suffering. I was next to a man who was clearly unwell. He was alone for some time, then his wife was brought in. They whispered as they had little privacy. Then, after a long silence she was led away, crying. I’m certain he died, and he died right next to me.” (woman, 79, from London)
While ten years ago waiting in Accident and Emergency (A&E) departments for more than twelve hours was a rarity, now it is routine. In fact, between 2019/20 and 2024/25, "the number of attendances to A&E that resulted in a 12-hour-wait for a bed increased by nearly 2000%". One in three of people aged 90 or older wait twelve hours or more in A&E to be either admitted or discharged home. The number of "corridor care" cases has increased 525-fold in the past nine to ten years. And last year, 532,451 people had to experience corridor care of a minimum of twelve hours (via).
“My very ill late husband, with a drip attached, was put in a chair… he was desperate to go to the loo and there was no one to take him. He was left with excrement in his pants and was left in this state for over 20 hours. How dreadful he felt – no modesty.” (a widow)
Hospital corridor care means queues of stretchers, elderly patients being left to soil themselves, puddles of urine on the floor, patients being forced to use bedpans in corridors, patients hearing or seeing other patients - other humans - dying while waiting for their own care, relatives not leaving the hospital and staying awake for 36 hours to make sure their beloved ones are somewhat taken care of (via). No matter how big cost pressures and how tight budgets are, treating vulnerable people like this just should not be an option.
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photograph of a nurse in 1969 via
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