Nurses in the RCN union on a march in 2023 (Picture: Guy Smallman)
Nurses in England are predicting a “devastating” rise in A&E corridor care for patients as a new round of “winter pressures” take hold in the NHS.
Analysis by their RCN union shows that trolley waits for sick patients needing a bed on a hospital ward have surged by more than 9,000 percent in just six years.
The RCN says the government has acted with “insufficient urgency” since last winter and has failed to boost capacity in both hospital and community settings.
Its figures show that demand for hospital services have steadily increased since 2019 when the number of people waiting for more than 12 hours in A&E stood at 1,281.
During the equivalent months this year, that number had risen to a staggering 116,141 people.
Jane, from east London, went to her local A&E last spring suffering from “excruciating pain.”
“When I arrived at A&E, there wasn’t room for me to go into the department, I had to go into the vestibule area, on a chair, for a long time. I didn’t see a doctor for a couple of hours,” she told Socialist Worker.
Doctors decided to admit Jane but there were no free beds, so along with about a dozen other patients, she had to wait on a trolley in a corridor for more than 12 hours.
And during that time, she even had to help other sick patients, despite being in agony herself.
“One of the trolley patients was very unwell and was being sick and I had to try and find them a bowl. She didn’t have any family with her and was in a great deal of pain,” said Jane.
“She needed somebody, but nobody came. The entire system was just completely overwhelmed.”
“I felt that actually nobody cared. They were not able to deal with any of us on the corridor,” she recalls.
“There were simply not enough staff to deal with the number of patients there. I think we all felt a sense of despair. The nursing staff were all lovely, but we hardly saw them because they were too busy.”
Corridor care is not only uncomfortable and undignified—it’s also dangerous. While there, nurses have no access to vital lifesaving equipment, such as oxygen and suction.
A senior nurse in a London A&E said, “Our emergency department this winter feels more difficult than ever.
“We’ve already seen record numbers of patients—many arriving sicker, waiting longer for the care they need, and receiving that care in a corridor instead of a properly staffed and equipped bed.
“The pressure is putting both patients and staff at risk, but our job is impossible.”
The RCN says the steady increase in demand for hospital beds is compounded by the government’s failure to boost community services.
NHS discharge data shows that in October, an average of 13,117 remained in hospital every day despite being ready to be discharged. That figure is up 6 percent on 2024.
Health secretary Wes Streeting recently unveiled his NHS ten-year plan, which envisages a health service with even fewer beds. He says he wants a switch to preventative medicine.
But that will do little for those who turn up at A&E desperately needing care and treatment.
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