Corridor care ‘endemic and shameful failure’ – SAM president (20 January)

Commenting on Age UK’s analysis of corridor care and A&E waits release today (Wednesday, 21 January), Dr Vicky Price, president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said:

“This analysis is just further evidence that ‘corridor care’ has shifted from the seasonal emergency it once was to an endemic and shameful failure of the healthcare system which is causing unprecedented harm.

“In 2025 alone, over 550,000 patients in England endured “trolley waits” exceeding 12 hours – the highest number in NHS history – and there is no sign of this perma-crisis reducing amid winter viruses and staff illness. 

“Corridor care is not a clinical choice but is a symptom of a system that is stretched far beyond safe limits.

“We are routinely seeing older and frailer patients with complex needs left for days in drafty, brightly lit corridors, or sat in hard chairs in waiting rooms for over 12 hours.

“This is the opposite of a therapeutic environment – it promotes delirium, increases infection risk and is undignified.

“Behind every statistic is a person suffering and we must not allow this to be deemed the ‘new normal’. We have the evidence and we know the risks, but there is a lack of political urgency to end this scandal.”