The Society for Acute Medicine (SAM) has warned that attempts to eliminate corridor care risk making conditions worse for some patients, as hospitals move people into other unsuitable spaces rather than addressing underlying pressures.
Speaking at the launch of the Society’s Spring Conference in Cardiff today (30 April), president Dr Vicky Price said clinicians are increasingly concerned that corridor care is being “disguised rather than resolved”.
“No one wants patients to be cared for in corridors, and moving people out of those environments may feel like an improvement,” she explained.
“But if those patients are simply moved into overcrowded waiting rooms, escalation areas or bedded same day emergency care units, we have not solved the problem – we have just shifted it.”
Dr Price said there was growing concern that the underlying risk to patients is being misunderstood.
She said: “We know that excess mortality is associated with overcrowding in emergency departments – not simply the physical location of a patient within them.
“The danger is that by focusing on corridors alone, we risk missing the bigger issue, which is unsafe crowding across the whole system.”
She added that there is also increasing evidence of the “gamification” of corridor care, with pressure to improve performance metrics potentially distorting how care is delivered.
“There is a real risk that the focus becomes where patients are placed or how they are counted, rather than whether they are receiving safe, appropriate care,” she said.
“Moving patients does not remove risk – it can simply make it less visible.”
Hospitals are also relying more heavily on temporary escalation areas, often without the staffing or infrastructure required to deliver safe care.
She said: “We are seeing escalation areas opened without the workforce needed to support them properly.
“Staff are already under intense pressure and are now being asked to stretch even further, often covering additional areas on top of their usual work. That is not sustainable.”
Despite the transition out of winter, Dr Price warned that frontline pressures remain unchanged: “It may be spring outside, but inside hospitals it still feels like the depths of winter.
These pressures are not easing – they are becoming the norm.”
She added that meaningful progress will only be achieved by addressing the underlying drivers of hospital overcrowding.
“If we are serious about ending corridor care, we have to address the fundamentals – inpatient capacity, workforce, and the ability to discharge patients safely,” she explained.
“Without that, we risk replacing one unsafe environment with another.”
The Society for Acute Medicine Spring Conference takes place in Cardiff today (30 April) and tomorrow (1 May), bringing together clinicians from across the UK to discuss the challenges facing acute and emergency care.
Acute medicine deals with the immediate and early treatment of adult patients with a variety of medical conditions who present to hospital as emergencies.
The specialty receives the majority of patients admitted from A&E and helps maintain the flow of patients through emergency departments to avoid exit block.