The Royal College of Nursing and the British Medical Association have launched a petition urging the Welsh Government to end the undignified treatment of patients in hospital corridors.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and the British Medical Association (BMA) in Wales have joined forces to campaign for an end to the practice of treating patients in corridors, chairs, waiting areas and other inappropriate areas.

Both unions are asking the public to sign the petition after nurses and doctors have reported being forced to treat patients in inappropriate and undignified environments putting them at risk of significant harm.

Reports from the RCN and members of BMA Cymru Wales are backed up by a recent survey from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine which showed that in the first quarter of 2025, every Accident and Emergency Department in Wales recorded seeing patients in unsafe, inappropriate spaces with almost half of patients waiting for an inpatient bed *

The petition calls on the Welsh Government to take urgent action to:

– Begin recording and reporting on corridor care in Wales, starting by making it a ‘never event’ for patients to receive care in chairs for more than 24 hours.

– Pause reductions in NHS Wales hospital beds. Nationally review capacity and deliver a clear, costed workforce plan to ensure hospitals and wider care settings can meet future demand.

– Invest in community-based care by: increasing the number of District Nurses (and nurses with a community nursing master’s degree) back to, and above, 2010 levels to meet demand. And by restoring the proportion of NHS Wales funding in general practice to historic levels, with aspirations to increase, training, recruiting and retaining enough GPs to move toward the OECD average number of GPs per 1000 people.

– Prioritise prevention and early intervention. Sustainable emergency care needs a strong focus on population health and early diagnosis to reduce avoidable crises.

The launch of the petition was prompted by an overwhelming number of testimonies from doctors and nurses highlighting the dire consequences of corridor care. These include frail, elderly patients waiting days in chairs, patients in waiting areas, corridors and beside nursing stations with no privacy resulting in missed diagnoses, delayed treatment, disorientation and deconditioning.

Helen Whyley, Executive Director of RCN Wales said: “We are beyond breaking point. I have travelled across Wales and witnessed people in pain, confused and frightened, with no privacy, no dignity, and no proper care environment.

“Every day that we delay, more patients suffer. Patients deserve better. Nurses deserve better. Wales deserves better.”

Stephen Kelly, chair of the BMA’s Welsh Consultants Committee added:

“When a patient is not placed in a bed space there’s a chance something vital may be missed, there’s no access to monitoring equipment and no privacy to carry out certain procedures.

“This is dangerous and is putting patients’ lives at risk, we urge the Welsh Government to work with us to put a stop to this practice.

The RCN and the BMA are urging the public to support their petition to end corridor care: https://petitions.senedd.wales/petitions/246599