We Must End the Corridor Care Crisis

When people go to A&E, they expect to be treated. What they do not expect is to spend the night in a chair, go without food, or struggle to access basic care.

Yet that is exactly what is happening across the NHS.

New figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats through Freedom of Information requests reveal that more than 31,000 people were forced to wait over 12 hours in A&E "Fit to Sit" areas during 2025, including 2,309 people aged over 75. Even more alarmingly, 5,306 patients waited over 24 hours in a hospital chair, with some enduring waits of more than eight days.

"Fit to Sit" spaces were intended for patients who were well enough to wait in a seated area, freeing up trolley spaces for those with more urgent needs. Instead, they have become symbols of a wider crisis. Patients are spending extraordinary lengths of time in these areas, often in pain, distress, and uncertainty. This is not just uncomfortable. It is undignified, unsafe and unacceptable.

That is why it was so disappointing that the Government rejected a recent Liberal Democrat amendment to the Health Bill that would have placed a duty on the Health Secretary to end corridor care within 12 months. 

The NHS remains one of our country's proudest achievements. But every patient left waiting in a chair is a reminder that the system is not working.

However, we cannot solve the NHS crisis without solving the social care crisis. That is why the Liberal Democrats have proposed a £1.5 billion rescue package aimed at tackling the corridor care crisis, creating an additional 6,000 hospital bed spaces, and investing in social care.

The Government cannot continue to accept these conditions as normal. Patients deserve better, which is why the fight to end corridor care must continue.