Nuffield Trust has branded findings to the NHS study as “absolutely shocking” as it shows those aged over-80 typically wait the longest to get a bed in A&E
Elderly people are more likely to face waits of 12 hours or more in A&E corridors, data shows.
Analysis by the Nuffield Trust think tank shows 43% of over-80s faced a wait of more than 12 hours between arrival in A&E and admission to a hospital ward in 2025, compared with 19% of those aged 21 to 30.
Sarah Scobie, Nuffield Trust research director, said: “It’s absolutely shocking that two fifths of the most elderly patients going into A&E are stuck waiting for over 12 hours, often in unsafe conditions, when they are already extremely unwell and vulnerable.
“Since the pandemic, stories like this have become so common, and we know that long A&E waits have caused thousands of avoidable deaths in recent years. Behind every case of corridor care counted in the new data is a person going through a frightening and traumatic experience.”
Corridor care waits
Health chiefs had previously assumed that frail adults spend longer in A&E because they are more likely to be admitted on to a ward, but the analysis shows they are still likely to wait the longest to get a bed. The elderly are more likely to have multiple complex conditions making diagnosis more time consuming.
Many face gruelling delays in waiting rooms or in trolleys in corridors and other makeshift spaces, where they cannot get decent food or sleep. The government has started publishing figures on such corridor care waits.
Dr Ian Higginson, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said: “Long stays are a blight on the emergency care system and we know that each year they result in the loss of thousands of lives in England alone.
“The approaches taken by consecutive governments to tackle this crisis have fallen short. Trying to divert people away from our doors is not a quick fix, as millions of patients will still need our services.”
The Mirror previously revealed “corridor care” was quietly rolled out across the NHS from 2022 to allow ambulances queuing outside with patients to offload to get back on the road.
A patient is classed as receiving corridor care if their treatment does not take place in a clinically appropriate and safe setting. Appropriate settings include things such as patients having privacy as well as access to food, water and toilets. Lights should also be able to be turned off and noise levels minimised to allow sleep.
Nearly 3,000 patients every day were cared for in hospital corridors or makeshift treatment areas in England in May.
‘Patients may spend days in emergency departments waiting for beds’
Dr Den Langhor consultants committee emergency medicine lead at the British Medical Association, said: “As an emergency medicine consultant, I can finish a shift with patients in a waiting room or on trolleys in corridors, only to return the next day to see them still there. In the worst cases, patients may spend days in emergency departments waiting for beds on the wards.
“We’ve made progress in the last year in getting the Government to recognise the corridor care crisis, agreeing a definition and publishing data, but this is not enough, especially if hospitals are able to game the data to obscure how bad things are on the ground.
“There are also questions at how useful data is that doesn’t distinguish between patients who received corridor care for 45 minutes, and those who experience corridor care for much longer periods of time.”
A&E waiting time standards collapsed under various Conservative governments and the NHS target for 95% of patients to be treated or admitted within four hours of arriving in A&E has not been achieved in any month since July 2015.
Latest data shows 75.4% of patients in England were seen within four hours in A&Es and this has been improving in recent months.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “Even under record pressure, the incredible dedication of NHS staff meant that three-quarters of patients were seen in A&E within four hours in the month of June.
“But we know we need to go further. That is why we are investing £450 million this year through our urgent and emergency care plan, which will expand bed capacity, enable more care to be delivered outside hospital settings, and cut A&E waits even further.
“We also know that achieving the best NHS waiting times is reliant on a stronger social care system, which is why the Prime Minister has set out this week his determination to reform social care, and give people the dignity, support and security they deserve.”