Corridor care in Scotland is 'unsafe and unsustainable'

It is a fresh warning to Health Secretary Neil Gray as pressure mounts on the Scottish Government to take action on corridor care conditions.

Corridor care is in use regularly across the UK, with the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) now warning the conditions had left staff almost “past the point of no return”.

Scottish nurses have raised the alarm as part of a major report into corridor care, with one testimony revealing a bed bound patient received personal care in a corridor because of a chronic lack of space.

The nurse said she is now considering her future in the profession. Speaking of that experience, she said: “It was embarrassing, uncomfortable and undignified. I have had multiple experiences like this and it is putting me off nursing as a career.”

The RCN said nurses now feared the system was “broken” and warning corridor care “tortures” patients who can be left for days without a bed.

Our sister title The Herald revealed anger from senior medics last week after First Minister John Swinney said corridor care was operating at “sustainable” levels.

His comments were in response to data, obtained exclusively by The Herald, that showed Crosshouse Hospital in Kilmarnock – one of the country’s most under pressure A&E departments – had exceeded 50% capacity in December.

It was the seventh month in 2025 the hospital ward had exceeded capacity, meaning patients were regularly treated in corridors.

The Scottish Government does not record corridor care data, meaning this was the first data to give a true picture of the situation in Scotland’s hospitals.

The leading nursing union has now urged the Scottish Government to produce an “urgent, fully funded action plan” to eradicate corridor care.

That includes additional investment in beds, funding to bolster the nursing workforce and extra cash for social care to free up beds.

Nursing staff said corridor care has left them feeling ashamed and embarrassed about the “unsafe and undignified” care they are forced to deliver for patients.

A nurse working in an emergency department in Scotland said it was “devastating to see vulnerable and elderly patients wait four or more hours on a hard chair in a cold corridor”.

Another described the experience beyond the emergency department, saying they felt “unprofessional and unable to do my job to a gold standard level”.

The nurse said: “We are now using a ‘continuous flow’ policy in our health board where all wards take extra patients on chairs or beds and are left in inappropriate areas.”

Another said: “It’s very stressful and distressing at times. There’s a sense of frustration and hopelessness.”

Colin Poolman, executive director of RCN Scotland, said: “Nursing staff declared a national emergency on the issue of corridor care over 18 months ago, but far from being eradicated as a practice it’s become a permanent fixture, spreading throughout hospitals and beyond emergency departments.

“It’s taken a terrible toll on staff, but the Scottish Government mustn’t allow them to lose hope.

“Decisive action can restore care standards and stop staff morale collapsing past the point of no return.

“In this election year, the public couldn’t be clearer that they want to see swift action to eradicate this practice and rightly consider it an urgent priority.

“Now is the time for the Scottish Government to stop dragging their feet and publish the data, alongside a fully funded action plan and timeline for eradication, including how they intend to boost nurse numbers, increase capacity in community services and provision in social care.”

Dr Fiona Hunter, the vice president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine in Scotland, told The Herald: "No one should or wants to be treated in a corridor or other temporary non-clinical space, as it is not sustainable or safe for patients or for the staff.

“Any patients being treated or held in a corridor are a symptom that things are not working as they should. This issue does indeed need a whole system solution and we hope the government works closely with health boards to improve flow through the hospital system from swift ambulance handovers at the front door to swift discharges at the back.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We are determined to do more to retain our valuable nursing workforce, and our Nursing and Midwifery Taskforce has agreed several recommended actions which are designed to have a meaningful and lasting impact on workforce wellbeing, improve retention, reduce stress and burnout, create a more positive and resilient workforce and ensure nursing remains an attractive career. We are working with key stakeholders, including the RCN, to implement these.”