Exclusive data published by The BMJ today show that 13,386 patients in England waited at least three days for A&E treatment last year, part of almost 500,000 who spent over 24 hours stuck in NHS emergency departments - before either being admitted, transferred, or discharged - in 2025.
Numbers spending at least a day in A&E have increased by a third since 2023, and figures for January 2026 were by far the worst for any month in the last five years, with 66,847 patients spending a whole day in Type 1 emergency departments (nearly 1 in 20 attendances), including 9,379 who were there for over 48 hours.
Experts warn that these excessively long waits are causing harm to patients "across the country," calling it a recent "phenomenon" that was almost unheard of pre-pandemic.
Earlier this month, Health Secretary Wes Streeting admitted he was "ashamed" of corridor care (defined as patients spending 45 minutes or more in a corridor or other clinically inappropriate area) and reiterated his pledge to end the practice across the NHS by the end of 2029.
But The BMJ's figures highlight the scale of the challenge ahead with a total of 493,751 patients spending at least 24 hours in Type 1 emergency departments in 2025, up from 487,608 in 2024 and 377,986 in 2023.
And although 72-hour waits are down from a 2023 peak of 19,579, experts say the overall issue of extreme A&E waits is getting worse - and is now a year-round issue.
For example, numbers waiting 24 hours or more in A&E in April (38,765) and May (36,609) last year were more than double that recorded for January 2022 (15,225).
Research has shown that patients are more likely to die if they spend over six or 12 hours in A&E before being admitted to hospital. Mumtaz Patel, president of the Royal College of Physicians, said: "I've heard of patients who say they'd rather die at home than come into hospital and be waiting."
Experts also told The BMJ that many of those waiting more than 24 hours were the more complex patients who would often be waiting in corridors or other makeshift areas.
NHS England has promised to start publishing monthly figures on corridor care from May, and earlier this month Streeting announced he would be sending in expert teams into the worst affected trusts, although experts said the plan would fall short of tackling the crisis.
