Overview
- Age UK says corridor care has become a degrading, unsafe feature of emergency departments, with older people disproportionately affected.
- The report cites more than 1 million patients aged 60+ waiting over 12 hours in 2024–25, including 149,293 people aged 90+—about one in three in that age group.
- Official September figures show 75% of A&E patients were seen within four hours, yet 44,765 faced 12-hour waits from decision to admit to admission, up from 35,909 in August.
- Patient testimonies describe extreme delays and lack of dignity, including long stretches on trolleys in corridors and cases where basic needs were unmet.
- Health minister Karin Smyth says the NHS will, for the first time, measure and publish corridor waiting numbers and will invest £450m in urgent-care centres, 500 ambulances and 40 mental health crisis centres, as nurses and NHS leaders call for urgent systemic action.