NHS: Corridor Care

Baroness Merron Excerpts

Wednesday 4th February 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Watkins of Tavistock]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the provision of corridor care in the NHS; and what plans they have to mitigate any issues arising.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Care (Baroness Merron) (Lab)]

My Lords, we have introduced new data collection on corridor care, which will be published shortly for the first time. We are taking sustained action to reduce the use of corridor care, ensuring that there are safeguards for patients in the interim to still receive high-quality and safe care with dignity and privacy. We are investing £450 million to expand same-day and urgent care services, and to improve hospital flow, as well as introducing new clinical operational standards.

[Baroness Watkins of Tavistock (CB)]

I thank the Minister for her reply, but I want to understand when a credible long-term delivery plan will be published—rather than “in the near future”—to restore year-round resilience, making whole-system patient flow a core performance priority. Unnecessary stays in hospital are linked to worse patient outcomes, and it should be possible to reduce the nearly 13,000 beds occupied on average each day in 2025 by people medically fit for discharge, in turn reducing the need for corridor care.

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

Let me say at the outset that corridor care should not be normalised; it is not what we want to see as routine. The reality is that we cannot eliminate it entirely—I think that is understood—but the current situation is not as we would want it to be. In addition to the Urgent and Emergency Care Plan 2025/26, which sets out clear actions to deliver improvements, the most challenged trusts are receiving targeted support. Looking to the future, as the noble Baroness asked about, the medium-term planning framework clearly sets out a trajectory to improve the situation. The introduction of clinical guidelines for the first 72 hours will also increase the proportion of people discharged within 72 hours. I very much recognise the situation the noble Baroness describes.

[Baroness Kingsmill (Lab)]

My Lords, as a former chair of an NHS community trust, I say that the situation often arises because of the shortage of social and community care. What are the Government doing to address those issues?

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

On social care, we are making progress on building a national care service. Around £4.6 billion of additional funding has been made available for adult social care by 2028-29. Along with other matters, including funds to improve and provide adaptation so that people can return home when they would not have been able to otherwise, we are providing funding of over £1 billion for adult social care with local authorities. This can be used to expand capacity. Of course, we have an independent commission chaired by the noble Baroness, Lady Casey.

[Baroness Manzoor (Con)]

My Lords, in a recent survey 78% of physicians reported undertaking corridor care. It is becoming almost the norm all the year round. It affects patients’ dignity, health and safety, and patient outcomes, because there are greater infection rates. I welcome the Minister’s points on the action that the Government are taking, but it is rather long-sighted and there is a real urgency to do something now.

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

I agree with the noble Baroness. Corridor care is perhaps one of the most visible and distressing symptoms of an NHS that the noble Lord, Lord Darzi, described as broken. We have to fix a number of the processes. I welcome that we are expanding urgent care access, for example, in primary, community and mental health settings, which will reduce demand on services. However, without publicly available data and the clinical operational standards that we are setting, the change will not be made as quickly as we would all like. There are immediate actions, as well as medium and long-term actions.

[Lord Rennard (LD)]

My Lords, my mother-in-law, Molly, is 110.

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[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

I agree with the need for more adult social care, but there is a whole range of factors that affect discharge delays, including the number of people who present. What the noble Lord outlined was not right and not the way in which his mother-in-law should have been dealt with. I know he would not expect me to comment further on individual circumstances, but if somebody is being considered for corridor care, that should be appropriately risk-assessed by clinical teams. The exact point he made is something that I have asked about. There should be a named nurse, and the provisions he talked about, such as food and drink, should have been there.

[Baroness Gerada (CB)]

My Lords—

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[Baroness Gerada (CB)]

We know from evidence that you can avoid hospital admission by improving continuity of care by general practitioners. When will the Minister redress the imbalance whereby GPs are funded from only 8% of the NHS budget yet deliver 70% to 80% of its care?

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

We very much appreciate the role that GPs play. Corridor care is related to a whole range of factors, not only the position of GPs. I have heard what the noble Baroness has said and will gladly relate it to my ministerial colleague.

[The Earl of Effingham (Con)]

My Lords, the Minister referenced data collection in her previous responses. In November, hospitals carried out 10% fewer operations than in October, but the Government claim the waiting list went down. Is that because the Government are paying hospitals £3 million per month in a process known as “validation”, and so it appears that the health service is treating more patients than it actually is? Is that the real reason that corridor care numbers are up?

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

No. I hope that the noble Lord would welcome a greater level of activity in this area. The waiting lists are going down. We have delivered, for example, 5.2 million extra appointments since we came into government, when we had promised just 2 million. Waiting lists are going down, and I am very happy to provide the data again to the noble Lord so that he can investigate that.

[Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe (Lab)]

My Lords—

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[Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe (Lab)]

My Lords, my recent experience in care homes is that there are vacancies—unfilled beds—in private care homes. When are we going to do something about the mismatch of people in corridors, when beds are available? There needs to be some system introduced to get people into them.

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

The first thing that needs to happen is that people need to be cared for in the hospital. As I said in answer to an earlier question, everybody should be assessed according to their need. If there is a shortage of beds, it is for that hospital to manage. There will always be a difference of demand. However, where there are problems in hospitals that are not responding as they should, we are putting in improvement teams to ensure that change can be made. Of course, it is only when people are well enough, and it is suitable and safe to discharge them, that they will be discharged. It is important to match up availability of social care beds to needs.