CQC Issues Updated Guidance to Tackle ‘Corridor Care’ Across NHS Hospitals
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has issued updated guidance for its hospital inspectors following growing concerns over the delivery of patient care in spaces that were never designed, staffed, or equipped for clinical use.
The revised guidance aims to equip inspectors with the tools to rigorously assess whether hospitals managing patients in so-called ‘corridor care’ environments — including waiting rooms, corridors, and other makeshift areas — are taking all appropriate steps to protect patient safety and dignity.
Across the NHS, an increasing number of patients are being cared for in non-designated clinical spaces as hospitals struggle to keep pace with rising demand. While the CQC acknowledges the pressures facing NHS trusts, it has been unequivocal in its position: corridor care must not be allowed to become the norm.
Under the updated framework, inspectors will now seek evidence that hospitals have carried out a robust assessment of the safest available location for each patient, taken all reasonable steps to reduce safety risks and prevent avoidable harm, and implemented a clear plan to end the use of any non-designated clinical space from the moment it is first brought into use.
Inspectors will also look for active measures to prevent corridor care becoming routine, and evidence that trusts are treating it as part of an urgent, system-wide response rather than an acceptable long-term solution.
Dr Toli Onon, CQC’s Chief Inspector of Hospitals, underscored the human cost of the current situation. “People should be receiving safe and effective hospital care in an environment that allows for their privacy and dignity to be protected — that is what patients deserve and what staff want to be able to deliver every time,” he said. “We know that being treated in a corridor or other inappropriate space is undignified and unsafe for patients. Staff morale is also affected when they are unable to provide the standard of care they strive for.”
Dr Onon acknowledged the difficult position in which many trusts find themselves, but warned that pressure could not be used to justify the indefinite continuation of such practices. He confirmed that where corridor care is in use, inspectors will look for assurance that hospitals are doing everything possible to mitigate risk, working with system partners to improve patient flow and enable timely discharge, and pursuing a firm plan to ensure corridor care does not become entrenched.
“We have seen evidence of actions to mitigate risk at some trusts,” Dr Onon added, “but every trust needs to have these in place.”
