Preparing for winter pressures: protecting patients, supporting staff

Like most years, hospitals across the country struggled to manage demand for urgent and emergency care last winter. Many relied on temporary care environments – such as corridors – to deliver care. In February 2025, the RCP asked physicians about their experiences of treating patients in these inappropriate spaces. The findings were stark – four in five of our physician members surveyed said they had delivered care in a temporary environment in the previous month.

Since then, demand for services hasn’t let up. There were over 2.4 million A&E attendances in England during July 2025, the second highest figure since records began in 2010. Last month ended up being the busiest August for A&E attendances in England on record. Like many doctors working in acute care, this leaves me feeling uneasy as I look ahead to winter when we know that seasonal illnesses place even greater pressure on the system and the risks of overcrowded emergency departments and the use of temporary escalation spaces to frail and vulnerable patients is significant.

In truth, seasonal demand emphasises how little capacity we have all year round. I have provided care in temporary care environments over the summer. You might have done too.

Tell us about it in our last member snapshot survey of the year, launched this week, which asks questions about corridor care over the summer months and levels of preparedness heading into winter. You can fill in the survey here – your insights will support us to continue raising awareness of this issue in the media and parliament.

At this early stage, we can’t know whether the measures in NHS England’s urgent and emergency care plan will make a difference. What we do know is that the drivers causing corridor care – increasing A&E demand, poor patient flow and lack of social care capacity – are systemic. It will take time for these challenges to be fixed, but the RCP is committed to maintaining pressure on the government and NHS to act. As measures are brought in to address the systemic issues, there are standards clinicians and providers can follow to uphold patient and staff safety in these challenging circumstances. These standards are outlined in the RCP’s position statement and guidance from earlier this year, which is currently under review and a refreshed version will be published in October.

While the moral injury of providing this type of care is significant for staff, it is our patients who suffer the most. In temporary care spaces, patients often feel anxious, unsure of how long they will be there and unable to access basic facilities. Helping them feel more in control of their health and care can make a big difference to their wellbeing, whilst also supporting staff in delivering care under pressure.

To support this, the RCP is engaging with patients, carers and clinicians to create practical resources that will help our patients prepare for admission, regardless of whether they’re cared for in a permanent or temporary space. This includes a list of questions that our patients can ask staff, and a checklist of what to bring with them to the hospital, such as essential medicines, an emergency contact list and comfort items. As clinicians, we can share these resources with patients to help them feel more informed, supported, and in control of their health, and in turn, help you deliver the care patients deserve.

These resources will be available in the autumn to help trusts prepare for winter. We hope they’ll ease stress for both patients and staff in emergency care settings.

No clinician wants to provide care in a corridor, day room or storage cupboard, but this is the current reality of what it is like to work in the NHS. We will keep campaigning for action and hope these materials for clinicians and patients will support you in the meantime.