Community nursing shortages worsening corridor care

Politicians have been urged to bring district nurse numbers back to and beyond 2010 levels and better invest in community nursing services to help tackle corridor care in Wales.

A petition to end corridor care, led by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Wales and British Medical Association (BMA) Cymru Wales, was debated in the Senedd yesterday, having surpassed 10,000 signatories.

Central to the discussion was how shortages in community nursing, GP access and social care are fuelling hospital overcrowding and forcing treatment into unsafe corridor spaces.

The petition calls on the Welsh Government and NHS Trusts to take four urgent actions to end corridor care in Wales – including increasing the number of district nurses and boost general practice funding.

It specifically demands that the government work to increase the number of district nurses – and nurses with a community nursing master’s degree – back to, and above, 2010 levels to meet demand. Figures from the Welsh Government suggest there were 746.4 full-time equivalent district nurses working in the community in 2010, compared to 546.6 as of March 2025.

‘Secondary care is buckling because community care is underfunded’

Mabon ap Gwynfor MS for Dwyfor Meirionnydd told the Senedd that some of his constituents had reported spending days in corridor spaces at Bronglais Hospital because of capacity issues elsewhere.

‘Those beds aren’t available because patients can’t be discharged due to lack of community care packages, even while 16 beds lie empty in Tywyn,’ he said.

‘The chronic underfunding of social care, combined with a lack of investment in primary care, has led to a situation where secondary care is buckling and nurses and doctors are becoming increasingly disillusioned,’ Mr Gywnfor added.

‘Listen and act’

Janet Finch-Saunders MS for the Aberconwy constituency said the petition reflected serious concerns from frontline staff across all healthcare settings and demanded swift action.

‘Questions absolutely have to be asked of how our NHS got to this point,’ she said.

‘They are the voices of our frontline nurses and doctors – when they say patient safety is at risk and that corridor care must be eradicated, we should all listen and act.’

She said the petition’s demands were ‘entirely reasonable’, describing the need to record corridor care, halt bed reductions, deliver a costed workforce plan and invest in community and GP services as ‘basic foundations of a safe health system’.

Government: whole-system approach needed

Health minister Jeremy Miles responded to the concerns raised by saying ending corridor care required strengthening primary and community care, not just hospital adjustments.

‘It’s not a matter of ending corridor care by moving resources around hospitals alone,’ he said.

‘We need to look again at the health and care service in its entirety so we can alleviate the pressure on hospitals and prevent corridor care.’

Mr Miles suggested the number of district nurses had increased by 20% since 2018, when data started being collected.

He also claimed that GP services across Wales have been ‘strengthened’ and that the GP contract had been changed to ‘prioritise continuity of care and support practices to manage pressures’.

‘Our focus now is on prioritising prevention and early intervention, which members have referred to today,’ he added.

‘Corridor care must end now’

RCN Wales executive director Helen Whyley said: ‘We’re asking Welsh Government to listen to the strength of feeling and act now.

‘Hardworking nurses and health care professionals are doing their best to care for seriously ill patients in unacceptable, dangerous and almost Dickensian-like conditions, adding stress to both the carer-giver and the patients and seriously putting lives at risk.’

She added: ‘We’re calling for the Welsh Government to work with us and the BMA on resolutions for improved care pathways and conditions for both patients and health care professionals. This includes investment in front-line community care such as increasing the number of district nurses.

‘Corridor care is undignified, unsafe and unacceptable – the Welsh Government must act to end this practice now.’

Next steps

The Petitions Committee will now consider the Welsh Government’s response. RCN Wales and BMA Cymru Wales say they will continue to push for urgent action to prevent corridor care becoming a routine part of hospital treatment.

Speaking to Nursing in Practice in October Steph Lawrence, chief executive of the Queen’s Institute Nursing (QICN), said care in the community was increasingly being left undone, something she described as ‘corridor care in the community’.

In May, findings from the Nuffield Trust revealed that the number of district nurses working in the NHS in England had fallen by 43% between 2009 and 2024.

In January, findings from a survey by the RCN in England exposed the experiences of nurses caring for patients in inappropriate places – including in hospital corridors, bathrooms, cloakrooms, and even in viewing rooms where families visit deceased relatives.

Also in January, the government in England was urged to introduce mandatory reporting on care in inappropriate spaces, like corridors, amid a surge in demand for healthcare services this winter.

This week, an ‘unprecedented wave of super flu’ has prompted a fresh appeal to the government to improve nurse staffing levels and increase bed capacity in hospitals.