Labour plans to end NHS corridor care by 2029

Labour pledges to end NHS corridor care by 2029. Health Secretary Wes Streeting stated this is unacceptable and aims to consign the practice to history within the current parliamentary term. The commitment follows warnings from the Royal College of Nursing about a "corridor care crisis," with a 90-fold increase in patients waiting over 12 hours for a hospital bed since 2019. This surge is linked to a collapse in community care and a decade-long NHS funding squeeze. Nurses have described harrowing experiences of treating patients on trolleys in corridors, citing inadequate resources and the normalization of these spaces by NHS England since 2022. The RCN is ready to collaborate with the government to address this issue.