Greater investment in primary, community and social care nursing is central to resolving the corridor care crisis, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has urged.
This comes as half of the public say it should take the government no more than a year to fix the issue of corridor care, according to a new YouGov poll.
The survey of British adults, conducted by YouGov on behalf of the RCN, found nearly half (48%) of respondents in England said they believed that if the government took action, it could stop all care and treatment being delivered in non-medical areas (like corridors and waiting rooms) within a year.
The RCN is calling for urgent action to fix the crisis, such as expanding capacity in community, social and primary care, mandatory reporting of corridor care data, and greater investment in nursing staff as a whole.
RCN general secretary and chief executive, Professor Nicola Ranger, warned that nurses and the public can see a ‘tragedy for patients unfolding before their eyes’.
‘But to properly solve this crisis, the government has to bring forward new and urgent investment into the nursing workforce, especially in the community and social care,’ she said.
‘This is the key to keeping patients healthy at home and easing pressures on hospitals.’
When asked, 90% of the YouGov survey respondents said the need to prevent care being delivered in non-medical areas was ‘urgent.’
Nearly one in five (19%) in England said they had witnessed or received that type of care within the last six months.
Although 50% of respondents blamed the previous UK Government for the situation, 48% said it was the current Labour Government’s responsibility to solve it.
The RCN is urging the government to ‘act at pace’ and make corridor care a key priority of the new 10 Year Plan due this spring.
Chief executive of the Patients Association, Rachel Power, said the findings ‘make it clear’ that patients and the public ‘will not accept further delays’ to resolving the crisis.
‘Behind each statistic is a person in distress, a family fearing for their loved one’s safety, and NHS staff struggling to deliver the quality of care they are trained to provide,’ she said.
‘We need urgent investment in community, primary care and hospital capacity, robust staffing plans, and full transparency through mandatory reporting.’
The YouGov survey was completed by more than 2,200 adults between 26 and 27 January 2025.
Last month the health and social care secretary, Wes Streeting, told the House of Commons that he ‘will not promise that patients will not be treated in corridors next year’.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: ‘It is shocking that corridor care has become a feature of the broken NHS this government inherited, but we are determined to change this.
‘We are investing £26 billion in the NHS and social care over the next two years, vaccinating more people against flu than this time last year, and ended the resident doctor strikes so staff are on the frontline during winter.
‘We have given clear guidance to the NHS to go back to basics and focus on the fundamentals, so patients are seen promptly in A&E, waiting times are cut, and more people get a GP appointment.’
