The longest wait
Our A&E crisis is devastating for older, sick people. Corridor care can't continue - it demands an emergency response.
End corridor care
Overly busy A&E departments and long waits are bad for everyone, but they happen most often to older people, for whom the impact can be especially devastating.
At Age UK, we hear heartbreaking stories from older people who have had to face treatment, tests, and life-changing news in unsafe conditions and without privacy. Tragically, some older people die before getting a hospital bed or room.
This is a crisis hiding in plain sight in our hospitals. It's crucial that we face up to what’s really happening to some older people, as the first step towards solving the problem.
What is corridor care?
Corridor care happens when A&E departments are too busy and there’s a lack of space. People are forced to wait, often for long periods, in other hospital areas which lack the usual facilities like access to oxygen and monitoring equipment. These may be passages or repurposed cupboards or other co-opted overspill spaces, where people wait on a chair or a trolley.
These places are often uncomfortable, noisy, anything but private, and under-staffed. There is also commonly a lack of facilities: it’s difficult to get food or water or access a toilet.
In short, it's not where you want to be if you are very unwell, whatever your age.
Corridor care was virtually unheard of a decade ago but today it’s becoming ‘normal’: some hospitals are even advertising for corridor care staff. And it’s becoming something especially likely to happen to older people, including very old men and women who are extremely ill or even dying.
1 in 10
people aged 50-59 are waiting 12 hours or more.
This rises to one third
of those aged 90 and older.
Susan's story
In 2023, Susan, 79, suffered a heart attack. She drove herself to hospital. With no beds available, she remained on a couch in the curtained-off area near A&E. That couch would be her bed for the next 13 hours.
Susan described the atmosphere as intense and relentless. She could hear people shouting in pain and there was no privacy. She also recalls two people dying on couches nearby.
“I was next to a man who was clearly unwell. He was alone for some time, then his wife was brought in. They whispered as they had little privacy. Then after a long silence she was led away, crying. I’m certain he died. And he died right next to me.”
Around 1am, 22 hours after she had originally suffered the heart attack, Susan was moved into an intensive care unit – but on a male ward. She felt very anxious with the lack of privacy.
11 months later, Susan experienced another heart attack. Due to an ambulance strike, she drove herself to hospital for a second time. Again, she was placed on a couch in an emergency area:
“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The corridors were lined with patients on trolleys, hooked up to drips, some moaning in pain. It reminded me of war films, with queues of stretchers and people suffering.”
The conditions have left her fearful of ever returning. Susan considers that she might even delay seeking care in the future, for fear of the environment she might be taken into:
“I do realise I’m dicing with death. But I think, ‘How long would I dare leave it before it’s too late?’”
We think corridor care is completely unacceptable
We are calling for urgent and decisive action from the Government to stamp out corridor care and bring down the number of long waits. Strong national leadership is essential to drive change.
Ministers recognise that corridor care is unacceptable. But words are not enough: for the sake of older people and hospital staff they need to take urgent action now.
Read our report
Learn more about the crisis affecting our A&Es and what needs to happen to solve it.