UK Emergency Doctors Condemn NHS Corridor Care Guidance as Unsafe

Medical professionals warn that treating patients in hospital corridors compromises safety, dignity, and care quality, urging systemic solutions to overcrowding.

• The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) criticized NHS England's guidance on 'corridor care,' describing it as 'nonsensical' and 'out of touch.'
• The guidance acknowledges that using 'temporary escalation spaces' like corridors is not ideal but suggests ways to provide care in such conditions due to ongoing pressures.
• Medical experts argue that corridor care leads to longer emergency department waits, increased patient harm, and compromised privacy, dignity, and infection control.
• RCEM leaders emphasized that overcrowding in hospitals, not guidance on coping with it, should be the focus of solutions, as it contributes to avoidable deaths.
• Health leaders predict this winter could be particularly challenging for the NHS, with high bed occupancy rates and increased demand from flu, COVID-19, and other illnesses.

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