Corridor care definition
Corridor care is a significant patient safety and experience issue; the NHS is committed to reducing this activity in hospitals across England in both emergency departments and inpatient wards.
To ensure consistency in reporting of activity in relation to corridor care, a definition has been developed to allow acute hospitals to accurately record and count corridor care.
Corridor care definition for the Emergency Department (ED)
- A count of the number of patients who received corridor care for more than 45 minutes within the previous 24-hour reporting period, from midnight to midnight, in the same way that attendances are reported.
- This includes patients receiving treatment, waiting for assessment, admission or transfer. This is limited to ED. Key criteria to consider are in table A. If the answer is no to any of the criteria, then this is corridor care in ED.
- It’s important to note that ambulance handover delays should not be included in the count of the number of patients who received corridor care and should continue to be reported separately.
How to collect
- Provision of care that takes place in an inappropriate clinical setting should be reported as corridor care. Daily activity reporting should include any activity that meets one or more of the criteria as listed in table A, and should be reported daily, within the previous 24-hour reporting period (from midnight to midnight).
- Where trust Electronic Patient Record (EPR) systems allow, duration thresholds (such as 45 minutes) may be used to support consistent reporting. However, the primary criteria for identifying corridor care should be based on the clinical appropriateness and safety of the environment.
Corridor care definition for general and acute beds
A count of the number of patients who are receiving care for more than 45 minutes on a ward outside of a bed space. This is limited to general and acute beds and excludes ED. Key criteria to consider are in table A. If the answer is no to any of the criteria, then this is a corridor care bed.
How to collect
- The figures provided should relate to the latest position on the day of reporting. This snapshot should be taken at 8am on the day of reporting and is the total number of adult general and acute corridor care beds occupied at 8am on the day of reporting.
- Where trust Electronic Patient Record (EPR) systems allow, duration thresholds (such as 45 minutes) may be used to support consistent reporting. However, the primary criteria for identifying corridor care should be based on the clinical appropriateness and safety of the environment.
Table A: Corridor care key criteria
| Corridor care | ||
| Is the patient in a clinically appropriate and safe setting including bed head services, for example, oxygen, call bells? | Yes | No |
| Can privacy be maintained? | Yes | No |
| Can dignity be maintained including access to food, water, toilets? | Yes | No |
| Can lights be turned off and noise levels minimised to facilitate a sleep? | Yes | No |
| Has the trust’s Infection Prevention and Control team confirmed appropriateness of the space being occupied? | Yes | No |
Publication reference: PRN02378