A Royal College of Physicians survey finds 59% of UK doctors delivered care in temporary spaces during summer 2025, highlighting that NHS corridor care is now a year-round issue
A recent Royal College of Physicians (RCP) survey reveals that nearly 60% of UK doctors provided care in temporary spaces, such as corridors, offices, and even cupboards, during the summer of 2025. This underscores the ongoing issue of corridor care, which the RCP warns is no longer confined to winter months.
“Patients deserve better,” warns RCP
In a survey of 553 physicians in the UK, 59% reported they had delivered care in a temporary care environment between June and August 2025. Within this figure, 45% said they had done this daily or almost daily.
Nearly all 94% of the 328 doctors who provided care in temporary environments over the summer said that patient privacy and dignity had been compromised, 84% reported that patient confidentiality was compromised, and 81% said that clinical practice was physically demanding.
The survey also found that 72% of those providing care in a temporary care environment over the summer felt forced to provide care in these environments, and 66% said they felt this was the new norm. Concerningly, 8% said the experience had made them consider leaving their roles altogether.
Dr Hilary Williams, RCP clinical vice president, said: “Delivering care in corridors and other temporary spaces has sadly become an everyday reality for many doctors, placing immense physical and emotional strain on staff. Patients deserve better. They should receive care in safe, private, and adequately equipped environments.
“Lasting change requires urgent systemic action. Strengthening social care, improving patient flow, and expanding alternatives to hospital admission within the community, such as hospital-at-home programmes, are essential.”
The RCP survey also shared harrowing experiences of doctors:
- ‘Providing care in front of a vending machine is a new low for my patients and for me as a consultant. The last patient I had to care for here had a brain abscess. This cannot be acceptable.’
- ‘I may retire early with corridor care being a major factor.’
- ‘Extra patients on the ward in areas not equipped for looking after patients has become normal. This is summer, it can only get worse over winter.’
- ‘The temporary environment we work in has no heating, which makes patients and staff very cold in the winter.’
Calls for urgent action from government and NHS leaders
In response to the survey, the RCP is reiterating its calls to the NHS, Health and Social Care Northern Ireland, and governments across the nations of the UK to:
- Protect patients and staff by supporting them when care is delivered in temporary care environments
- Prevent this practice by implementing systems and processes to improve patient flow and discharge
- Pledge long-term investment in social care and public health initiatives to tackle avoidable admissions and improve health
- Publish data all year round on how many patients are being treated in temporary care environments.
Responding to the Royal College of Physicians’ survey suggesting that corridor care is no longer confined to the winter period, Rory Deighton, acute and community care director at the NHS Confederation, said: “This new survey paints a deeply worrying picture of the use of corridor care and its impact on staff. Corridor care has often been used as a last resort in winter to increase hospital capacity in the face of surging demand. But with the most recent data showing that the health service has been seeing incredibly high demand over the summer months, as well, it is unfortunately not surprising to hear that NHS staff have been left with little choice but to use temporary areas to treat patients.
“There is no easy fix, but the NHS and partners are working incredibly hard to bolster community support to care for people closer to home and reduce demand on hospitals. The lack of suitable infrastructure for surge capacity is a challenge for some hospitals, which is why we’ve been urging the government to allow private capital investment into more parts of the NHS – including the acute sector – to build new facilities.”
