Unions launch Senedd petition to end ‘dangerous’ corridor care in Wales

Emily Price

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has teamed up with the British Medical Association (BMA) to launch a Senedd petition calling for an end to corridor care in Welsh hospitals.

The petition, launched on Tuesday (29 April), urges the Welsh Government to take immediate action to end the practice of treating patients in corridors, chairs, waiting areas and all other inappropriate settings.

The Welsh Government says it does not endorse the routine care of people in non-clinical or unsuitable environments” but that there are occasions where the NHS “faces exceptional pressures”.

Demand

NHS organisations are responsible for planning their resources, staff and infrastructure including the estate and beds, to meet the needs of their population.

Health boards are expected to flex their bed capacity based on their assessment of demand throughout the year.

In May 2023, the NHS in Wales began capturing operational data on patients treated in unsuitable environments in an effort to support a more comprehensive understanding of the issue.

A recent survey from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine showed that in the first quarter of 2025, every accident and emergency department in Wales recorded seeing patients in inappropriate spaces with almost half of patients waiting for an inpatient bed.

RCN Wales and BMA Cymru Wales has warned that treating patients in corridors is putting them at risk of “significant harm”.

The two unions say the new petition was prompted by testimonies from doctors and nurses highlighting the “dire consequences” of corridor care.

‘Dire’

These include frail, elderly patients being left to wait for days in chairs and patients left by nursing stations with no privacy resulting in missed diagnoses, delayed treatment, disorientation and de-conditioning.

Helen Whyley, Executive Director of RCN Wales said: “We are beyond breaking point. I have travelled across Wales and witnessed people in pain, confused and frightened, with no privacy, no dignity, and no proper care environment.

“Treating patients in corridors and other inappropriate areas is not nursing – it is crisis management in a system that is failing.

“Corridor care is unsafe, undignified, and unacceptable. The Welsh Government must act now-working with health unions and NHS leaders-to implement urgent and meaningful changes.

“Every day that we delay, more patients suffer. Patients deserve better. Nurses deserve better. Wales deserves better.”

Stephen Kelly, chair of the BMA’s Welsh Consultants Committee said: “When a patient is not placed in a bed space there’s a chance something vital may be missed, there’s no access to monitoring equipment and no privacy to carry out certain procedures.

“This is dangerous and is putting patients’ lives at risk, we urge the Welsh Government to work with us to put a stop to this practice.

“We’re extremely concerned that the ‘normalising’ of seeing patients in completely inappropriate spaces will mean that patients come to significant harm which is hugely distressing for patients but also NHS staff.

“This affects everyone in Wales, and we urge people to sign the petition and help us to put an end to corridor care.”

Review

The petition calls on the Welsh Government to take urgent action to

*Begin recording and reporting on corridor care in Wales, starting by making it a ‘never event’ for patients to receive care in chairs for more than 24 hours.

*Pause reductions in NHS Wales hospital beds. Nationally review capacity and deliver a clear, costed workforce plan to ensure hospitals and wider care settings can meet future demand.

*Invest in community-based care by:

– increasing the number of District Nurses (and nurses with a community nursing master’s degree) back to, and above, 2010 levels to meet demand.

– restoring the proportion of NHS Wales funding in general practice to historic levels, with aspirations to increase, so that we train, recruit and retain enough GPs to move toward the OECD average number of GPs per 1000 people.

– Prioritise prevention and early intervention. Sustainable emergency care needs a strong focus on population health and early diagnosis to reduce avoidable crises.

‘Dignity’

At 250 signature the petition will be discussed by the Senedd Petitions Committee. At 10,000 signatures it will be considered for a debate in the Welsh Parliament.

A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “We do not endorse routine care in non-clinical environments where patient privacy or dignity is compromised. However, there are occasions when the NHS faces exceptional pressures during high demand periods.

“Never events are recorded in the NHS as wholly preventable medical errors with the potential to cause serious harm, therefore the call to classify care for patients in chairs for more than 24 hours as a ‘never event’ does not meet the criteria, given the complex nature of causes.

“We’ve provided £200m additional funding this year to improve home care and hospital discharge timelines to address these challenges, which are not unique to Wales.”