Hospital patients being treated in corridors

Yes - this time last year my husband was in A&E with sepsis, it was 2-3 days before he got moved to a ward, but his care was wonderful, and of course because of the high staff levels they noticed very quickly when things were going wrong.

The staff are wonderful and do their best but its a lottery where you live and the treatment you receive down to sheer numbers.

Yes indeed but the point I was trying to make is that being treated in a corridor is not so bad.

Unless you are ignored and die, like the poor man in the news this evening.

Lying on a trolley might not be so bad if you are in fact triaged and cared for, but sitting on a small, hard, plastic chair for 36 hours can lead to blood clots in the legs. You can also be pushed into a cupboard and forgotten, both have happened to people I know.

It is undignified, not to mention potentially dangerous.

What have we come to when we think this is normal and acceptable? It really is not.

We sat on small, hard, plastic chairs for 21 hours with my husband periodically being sick into a bowl (sorry). No it's not normal and acceptable but what are they supposed to do? It wasn't a trolley, it was a hospital bed, clean and comfortable.

Knowing a patient with a awful virus is treated in a busy public corridor, chatting to others, isn't reassuring to me.
I hope your husband is improving well.

Oldfrill. He's fine now thank you. We never gave the corridor a thought. It was clean, comfortable and he was being looked after. That's all that mattered to us. When you've sat in A&E for several hours, who knows what other patients are there with. I'm sure you could catch anything. We were grateful to be seen.

I'd be more worried about privacy, no curtains so if they need to examine you does everyone get a good luck, if you aren't well enough to get up how do they manage bedpans?

If the doctors go on strike next week as they plan, this will only get worse.

I guess there's an element of who the person is involved - I'd be there thinking "Bright corridor - how do I sleep?" "Lots of people going past - how do I sleep?" "Tea (coffee in my case) and toast for breakfast" Agh - bet it's instant coffee and sliced supermarket bread too - ie nothing for breakfast then..hungry!".

So there's that element too - ie what some people will put up others would be having photos taken/complaining/etc.

Goodness knows and parts of the country do vary - and where I am right now = the first thing I'd be doing is booking a long distance taxi fare elsewhere (as I've heard such bad tales of what is happening here in Welsh hospitals - even that major hospital in Cardiff for goodness sake - downright unhygienic and needs knocking down and replacing it's that bad).

Sitting for several hours in A & E is appalling - but I've heard of a lot lot worse than that and that's assuming that all A & Es are 24/7 in the first place (and some of them aren't even that....).

Kate1949, my mother-in-law also had great care in a corridor.
It wasn't a main thoroughfare but was definitely a corridor.

It was not how you think of it at all.

Obviously, it was nice when she was "settled " properly into a bed space...

And yes, we should have more bed spaces!

Kate1949

We sat on small, hard, plastic chairs for 21 hours with my husband periodically being sick into a bowl (sorry). No it's not normal and acceptable but what are they supposed to do? It wasn't a trolley, it was a hospital bed, clean and comfortable.

Not the fault of the staff, I am not blaming them.
The fault of successive Governments.

Until we are prepared to pay more in taxes it won't get better? I know some bad things happen, but its so good to hear some gratitude? We are still so fortunate still in the UK. We do take an awful lot for granted. Good O/P.

I think the thing they most need to sort out asap are the communications systems, (letters arriving late, or not at all, better joined up communications, and so on) that would make a real difference.

www.itv.com/news/2025-12-10/he-had-no-dignity-90-year-old-man-dies-in-hospital-corridor

No, we should not be grateful for sometimes being treated in a degrading fashion.

We do need to fund our NHS better and also to make it more efficient.

Allira

www.itv.com/news/2025-12-10/he-had-no-dignity-90-year-old-man-dies-in-hospital-corridor

No, we should not be grateful for sometimes being treated in a degrading fashion.

We do need to fund our NHS better and also to make it more efficient.

Yes I said privacy but I suppose dignity explains it well.

I was once parked in a linen cupboard when there was no where to put me. I was on a trolley, at least it was quiet and private. That was 54 years ago. I'll never forget that date as my hours old baby was in there with me.

It's not new, is it theworriedwell.

I remember being in a wheelchair in a corridor after an accident, with an ambulance man in attendance. I told him he could go as he'd delivered me safely to the hospital. He said he couldn't until I'd been triaged.
That took a very long time and, of course, meant his ambulance was outside and unable to attend to anyone else.

Patients have died waiting for hours outside hospitals in ambulances.

Well they try not to keep you in the corridor for long. There were three patients in the corridor. They were moved to a ward asap, in my husband's case his own room with a private shower.

As for worrying about instant coffee and supermarket bread, words fail me. This is the NHS. Believe me if you are ill and scared, the last thing you worry about is the quality of the breakfast.

I don't think anyone is grateful for sometimes being treated in a degrading fashion - but plenty are grateful for being treated well in difficult circumstances.

Maybe I'm missing something here as I'm confused as to where this came from.
Sorry.

And yes Wyllow I also think we need to pay more tax.

NotSpaghetti

I don't think anyone is grateful for sometimes being treated in a degrading fashion - but plenty are grateful for being treated well in difficult circumstances.

Maybe I'm missing something here as I'm confused as to where this came from.
Sorry.

And yes Wyllow I also think we need to pay more tax.

You don't think being treated on a trolley in a crowded hospital corridor with people to-ing and fro-ing and dying on a trolley is not degrading?

I'm sorry, but I do and it is not acceptable.

Before our experience, when I heard of people being treated in corridors I imagined all sorts of horrors. It wasn't like that at all.

NotSpaghetti

I don't think anyone is grateful for sometimes being treated in a degrading fashion - but plenty are grateful for being treated well in difficult circumstances.

Maybe I'm missing something here as I'm confused as to where this came from.
Sorry.

And yes Wyllow I also think we need to pay more tax.

We do need to fund our NHS better and also to make it more efficient.

I also said that and agree with Wyllow

But no, we should not be taking this situation for granted even if we are grateful to the staff for doing their best in what is sometimes impossible circumstances.

It is not fair on the patient, nor is it fair on the staff.

What should we do then?

Maybe kick up a fuss? Refuse to be treated in a corridor? Make life even more difficult for the already hard pressed staff?