Ending corridor care
Resources and guidance to support you
Corridor care is bad for patients and bad for health care staff.
Treating people in inappropriate spaces like car parks and waiting rooms has become increasingly common. It's unsafe, undignified and unacceptable.
As shocking testimony from our members re-emphasises the devastating consequences of corridor care for patients and nursing staff, we鈥檙e doubling down: governments must provide a fully funded action plan to eradicate the practice now.
Any such plan must include investment in beds, the nursing workforce, community services and social care.
If you have to deliver, receive or oversee care in an inappropriate space, use the resources on this page to raise the alarm and seek support.
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Shocking new testimony shows our members are “losing all hope” of things getting better.
Call it out to stamp it out
If you deliver corridor care
Report it as an incident
You must report it immediately through a Datix or other local process. If you don鈥檛 know the process where you work, our raising concerns toolkit explains more.
How to raise a concern
If you want to get more involved
Become a health and safety rep
Help make an immediate impact in your workplace as 麻豆视频 Health and Safety Rep. Put your passion for patient care to great use in this rewarding role.
Become a rep
Corridor care: a practical checklist
Whatever your role, feel empowered to identify and raise corridor care as an urgent issue with our simple checklist and template email.
Remember, it's not just corridors. Any care that's happening outside of appropriate spaces is unacceptable and should be addressed.
Access tailored advice
Advice for registered nurses
As a registered nurse, there are some extra steps you can take to help minimise harm when you see corridor care happening where you work.
Advice for the nurse in charge
If you're in charge of a department, ward or other health care setting where corridor care is happening or is likely to occur, there are some added responsibilities to be aware of.
Advice for health and safety reps
If you're one of our amazing health and safety reps, read our tailored guidance and access further resources to help you in this important role.
Is corridor care affecting your mental health?
You're not alone. Working in environments where corridor care is happening has left many of our members with moral distress and injury, which leads to burn out.
We're here to support you.
Our campaign to end corridor care
Our campaign to end corridor care and your powerful testimony led to the Health Services Safety Investigations Body launching a formal investigation into its shocking scale and impact. It has recently published its .
But there's a long way to go before it's eradicated for good. We won’t give up until patient and nursing staff wellbeing is taken seriously and corridor care is consigned to history.
Watch our General Secretary and Chief Executive Nicola Ranger highlight why the government must act now to eradicate corridor care.
Read the evidence
Our campaign is based on substantial evidence which shows the shocking impact of corridor care on patients, staff and workplaces.
- RCN (2026), Beyond winter pressures: The endemic crisis of corridor care in the UK
- RCN (2025), Bracing for winter: A close look at NHS emergency and elective care in England and its implications for corridor care
- RCN (2025), On the frontline of the UK鈥檚 corridor care crisis
- RCN (2024), Corridor care: unsafe, undignified, unacceptable
- University of Sheffield (2024),
Corridor care in the news
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15 Jan 2026
鈥楢shamed and angry鈥� nursing staff speak out on corridor care
The RCN says the practice must end urgently, as testimony from our members shows its damaging effects
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12 Dec 2025
Corridor care should be eradicated, not just mitigated, says RCN
NHS England鈥檚 new corridor care guidance is a sign of just how far care standards have fallen. We鈥檙e calling for a fully funded plan to eradicate the practice
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3 Dec 2025
Corridor care crisis: 12-hour waits surge as RCN warns of 'devastating' winter
The Westminster government鈥檚 failure to rapidly invest in beds, staff and community services has set the stage for a dangerous winter
Have you received corridor care?
Work in Wales?
See how we're working towards a corridor care-free health system and get involved locally.
We regularly review our resources to make sure they're up to date and helpful for as many of our members as possible.
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