One in 10 patients spent over 12 hours in A&E in 2025
According to a BBC poll, one in ten patients who attended major A&E units in England last year spent more than 12 hours there. During 2025, 1. 75 million patients waited for so long to be diagnosed and discharged or find a bed on a ward – only marginally better than 2024. It comes as the Royal College of Nursing warned of long waits and corridor care, in which patients are left for hours in make-shift settings, was having a devastating effect. Members from around the UK testified about inadequate and unignified care, with one nurse claiming that animals were handled better at vets. It was said that it was ineffective, but it was also dealing with the government's legacy.
Corridor care was a problem, according to Health Minister Wes Streeting, who said the NHS was falling short.
It should never be normalised,
starting to feel the differencehe added. He said he had promised to ending the session before the end of the parliament and that he would shortly start publishing statistics on it to ensure transparency. However, he said that there had been an improvement relative to last year, especially in ambulance response times. Patients were
It breaks my heart being in work and there being a patient, mainly elderly, on the corridor, and coming back two days later and them still being there two days after.in other areas of care, suggesting that change on the hospital waiting list was underway. Patients were crammed into corridors and treated in kitchens, dining areas, and side rooms, according to RCN members who were concerned and worried about corridor care. In one case, a nurse explained how a patient died after choking undetected in a corridor, while others said they had to hold up sheets around patients during intimate procedures.
another south west resident said, "We should not treat animals like this.We would not have animals treated like this in a medical setting,
Prof Nicola Ranger, RCN's general secretary, said the testimonies revealed the devastating human consequences
of hospital pressures. She was speaking at the beginning of the new year after a string of hospitals announcing emergency during the first two weeks. Patients were on corridors, and administrators apologised for the significant and unacceptable delays
in A&E at one – Nottingham University Hospital.
Relentless pressure
The BBC has firsthand seen the effects of the pressures. Our teams shot inside Leicester Royal Infirmary, where employees describe relentless pressure
and the daily challenge of
too illmaintaining a patient's dignity while walking a corridor. Doctors and nurses told the BBC that they were struggling to find beds for some of the hospital's most ill patients, with elderly people often left overnight on plastic chairs for eight to nine hours. Patricia, a seventies woman who had fallen and was experiencing intense chest pains, was one of them. She spent nine hours in a chair waiting for her to return. She said she was
andconfused
This is not the kind of care we want to give," Scott Knapp, a emergency department consultant, said. NHS England has published monthly results on 12-hour waits. In 2024, 10. Patients stayed 12 hours or more at major A&E hospitals from arrival to discharge, or if they needed to be admitted, 5% waited a bed on a ward. In 2025 it was 10. 1%. Waits are measured slightly differently in the United Kingdom, but other nations are also having difficulties. On the waiting list for planned hospitalizations, such as knee and hip surgery, figures have also been published. At the end of November 7. Down from 7. 7 million patients, 31 million patients were on the waiting list, down from 7. The month was 4 million, the lowest level since February 2023. Also, NHS England has released an analysis of its programme of assistance for areas with the highest unemployment rates. NHS trusts in the 20 areas with the most severe joblessness have been given additional assistance, including specialist doctors and managers, who have been sent to try to get the waiting list down. The waiting list has decreased by 4. 4 percent in the last year. 2% – three times faster than elsewhere.about what was going on. Ann, another patient, arrived by ambulance and was being treated for an infection and dehydration. She had been waiting for a bed on a ward for 48 hours. Although she praised the medical services she received, specialist employees would have to come to the emergency department to oversee her recovery because no suitable bed was available.
