In 2025, a staggering one out of every ten patients who visited major Accident & Emergency (A&E) departments in England endured waits exceeding 12 hours, according to an analysis conducted by the BBC. This amounts to approximately 1.75 million individuals who faced such lengthy delays before receiving treatment or being assigned a hospital bed, reflecting only a slight improvement from the previous year, 2024.
This troubling situation has drawn serious concern from the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), which highlighted the dire consequences of prolonged waits and the disturbing practice of corridor care, where patients are often left unattended for hours in makeshift areas. Nurses have shared harrowing accounts of the conditions they encounter, with one professional lamenting that even animals receive more humane treatment at veterinary clinics than patients do in their care.
While the government has acknowledged these unacceptable circumstances, it claims to be tackling the issues inherited from prior administrations. Health Secretary Wes Streeting spoke candidly about the ongoing challenges, admitting that corridor care remains a significant problem within the National Health Service (NHS), and emphasized that such situations should never become normalized. He has pledged to eradicate this practice by the end of the parliament and plans to promote transparency by publishing relevant data.
Despite these challenges, Streeting mentioned that there had been some improvements in certain areas, such as ambulance response times compared to the previous year. Additionally, he pointed out that patients are beginning to notice a positive change regarding the hospital waiting list.
However, the reality on the ground is stark. RCN members expressed profound shame and frustration over the current state of affairs, revealing that patients are frequently squeezed into corridors and treated in inappropriate locations like kitchens, dining areas, and side rooms. In one alarming instance, a nurse reported a patient dying from choking, unnoticed in a corridor, while others recounted having to shield patients with sheets during intimate medical procedures.
A nurse working in the northwest of England shared her heartbreak, stating, "It pains me to see elderly patients languishing in corridors, and then coming back days later only to find them still there." Another nurse from the southwest labeled the healthcare system as broken, describing the experience for patients as a form of torture. She questioned, "Why are we treating patients in ways we wouldn’t dare to treat animals in a veterinary practice?"
Prof. Nicola Ranger, the general secretary of RCN, remarked that the testimonies from nurses illustrate the "devastating human consequences" of the immense pressures faced by hospitals today. Her comments came in light of several hospitals declaring critical incidents early in the new year, including Nottingham University Hospital, which admitted to having patients on corridors and issued apologies for the significant delays in A&E services.
The BBC has witnessed these pressures firsthand. Their teams recently documented the struggles at Leicester Royal Infirmary, where staff described the "relentless pressure" they face daily in trying to maintain patients’ dignity while they wait on corridors. Healthcare professionals voiced their frustrations about the difficulty of securing beds for vulnerable patients, frequently leaving elderly individuals stranded on plastic chairs for extended periods, sometimes overnight.
Among those affected was Patricia, a septuagenarian who fell and was suffering from severe chest pain; she spent an exhausting nine hours perched on a chair waiting for help. "I felt so tired and confused about what was happening to me," she shared. Another patient named Ann arrived via ambulance seeking treatment for an infection and dehydration but found herself waiting 48 hours for a bed. Despite acknowledging the quality of care she received, she noted that specialists had to come to the emergency department to assist with her rehabilitation due to the unavailability of suitable beds.
Scott Knapp, an emergency department consultant, expressed his discontent, stating, "This is not the standard of care we aspire to provide."
NHS England regularly publishes monthly statistics on 12-hour waits. In 2024, the figures showed that 10.5% of patients endured 12 hours or longer at major A&E units, while in 2025, this figure slightly decreased to 10.1%. The methods of measuring wait times may vary across the UK, but all regions are grappling with similar problems.
Furthermore, data concerning the waiting list for scheduled hospital treatments, such as knee and hip surgeries, reveals that at the end of November, there were 7.31 million patients awaiting treatment—an improvement from 7.4 million the previous month, marking the lowest level since February 2023.
To address the crisis, NHS trusts in the 20 regions with the highest unemployment rates have received additional support, with specialized teams dispatched to help reduce the waiting lists. Over the past year, this initiative has succeeded in decreasing the waiting list by 4.2%, which is three times faster than the overall trend elsewhere.
