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orywireNHS England’s first corridor care dataset recorded an average of 2,241 patients a day in emergency department corridor care in May, plus 669 in similar hospital settings elsewhere. The figures offer a new national baseline, but the data is experimental and comes with important caveats.
NHS England’s first corridor care figures show that, in May 2026, an average of 2,241 patients a day experienced corridor care in emergency departments, with another 669 patients receiving similar care elsewhere in hospitals. The release gives England its first national baseline for the issue, but NHS England says the data is experimental and should be read with care.
The figures cover reported corridor care in England during May 2026. NHS England said the average daily number was 2,241 patients in emergency departments and 669 patients in similar settings elsewhere in hospital.
Those two measures point to almost 3,000 reported patient instances a day, but they are not exactly the same type of count. The emergency department figure is based on patients who received corridor care for more than 45 minutes during the previous 24-hour reporting period. The general and acute ward figure is an 8am snapshot of patients receiving care for more than 45 minutes outside a bed space.
That distinction matters. The figures are useful for showing the scale of the problem, but they should not be treated as a precise live count of patients in corridors at any one moment.
NHS England also said 20 trusts accounted for more than half of corridor care cases in emergency departments, while 20 trusts accounted for more than two thirds of cases elsewhere in hospitals. The release came alongside wider performance data showing A\&E departments had their busiest month on record in May, with 2,457,398 attendances.
NHS England defines corridor care as care delivered in a clinically inappropriate area. In emergency departments, the count includes patients receiving treatment or waiting for assessment, admission or transfer for more than 45 minutes in such a setting.
Ambulance handover delays are not included in the corridor care count and continue to be reported separately.
For general and acute wards, NHS England counts patients receiving care for more than 45 minutes outside a bed space. The snapshot is taken at 8am on the reporting day.
The definition looks beyond whether someone is literally in a corridor. NHS England’s criteria include whether the space is clinically appropriate and safe, whether privacy and dignity can be maintained, whether patients can access food, water and toilets, whether rest is possible, and whether infection prevention and control requirements have been met.
The new figures are labelled experimental because this is a new national collection. NHS England says the information is management data gathered quickly from the NHS, with only limited validation possible before publication.
There are also consistency issues. NHS England says guidance for the collection was refined after it was first issued in March, and may not have been applied consistently across trusts. That can affect both the quality of the figures and comparisons between hospitals.
Averages are based on the number of submissions a trust made, rather than simply on the number of days in the month. NHS England also draws a distinction between a blank return and a zero: a blank means the provider did not submit data for that metric, while a zero means the provider reported no corridor care instances for that period.
The practical result is that the first release is best read as a baseline, not a league table. It shows the reported scale and concentration of corridor care, but firm trend judgements will be stronger once more months of data have been published and reporting has matured.
The figures do not mean every A\&E patient will be treated in a corridor, and they do not show current conditions at a specific hospital today. They are national monthly data, not a live hospital status feed.
For life-threatening emergencies, people should still call 999. For urgent medical help that is not an emergency, NHS England continues to direct people to NHS 111.
Patients or relatives who are worried about care being delivered in a corridor or other temporary space should ask hospital staff who is responsible for the patient’s care, how help can be summoned quickly, and what the plan is for moving to a more suitable space. Immediate concerns about safety, privacy, medication, food, water or toilet access should be raised with the clinical team or the hospital’s usual complaints route.
NHS England says corridor care is unacceptable and should not be normalised. Its March guidance said a single definition was needed so hospitals could record the problem more consistently and so national data could be published from May 2026.
The May release says NHS England has brought together trusts reporting the highest levels of corridor care and that each organisation is developing improvement plans aimed at eliminating the practice. NHS England also says targeted support has been provided to trusts facing the greatest challenges.
The patient safety concern is not just about where someone is placed. The Health Services Safety Investigations Body has described temporary care environments as spaces not originally designed, staffed or equipped for care. Its investigation highlighted risks including difficulty monitoring patients, infection prevention challenges, access to equipment, privacy and dignity, and the need for better information gathering.
Future corridor care figures may change for two reasons: because the actual level of corridor care changes, or because reporting becomes more complete and consistent.
A trust that improves data capture could appear to worsen even if care on the ground has not deteriorated. Equally, changes in blanks, zeros or local interpretation of the definition could affect monthly comparisons.
The next useful check will be NHS England’s next monthly update. Readers should look not only at whether the national average rises or falls, but also at whether the data notes change, whether submission gaps narrow, and whether the same small group of trusts continues to account for a large share of reported corridor care.
