The British Geriatrics Society welcomes the publication of the first national NHS England data on corridor care, which provides important transparency about the scale of the crisis.
The figures show that nearly 3,000 patients are receiving care in clinically inappropriate settings every day. This is totally unacceptable. Corridor care is unsafe and undignified for all patients, but older people living with frailty, dementia and multiple long-term conditions are particularly vulnerable to its harms. These figures provide clear evidence of a problem that the BGS, along with others, have been raising concerns about for some time.
Publishing data on corridor care is an important step forward, but ending corridor care will require a whole-system approach, including investment in community services, rehabilitation, social care and specialist frailty services. We would also encourage NHS England to provide data on patients' ages in future.
Older people deserve safe, timely and dignified care in the right setting. We must now ensure that measures to combat corridor care are put in place and implemented consistently across the health and care system.
