Age UK statement on NHS England publishing Corridor Care data for the first time

Caroline Abrahams, Charity Director at Age UK said: “Three thousand corridor care cases a day is three thousand too many, but it’s good to have this benchmark to work from as we move towards eradicating corridor care, once and for all.

“We know that corridor care is closely linked to long A&E waits, which are still far too prevalent; that you are much more likely to experience it if you’re an older person; and that it’s concentrated in a subset of hospitals, with some settings having overcome it altogether. This should give us hope that it will be possible for the Government to achieve its goal of ending corridor care in this Parliament - Age UK will certainly be holding Ministers firmly to account.

“Most experts agree that corridor care is a symptom of a wider health and care system that is yet to adapt to the reality of an ageing population: older people are often having to come to A&E when they could and should have been helped earlier & at home. In the end then, the solution to corridor care lies partly in improving health & social care in the community, as well as in changing how hospitals deploy their resources too.”