The research came as The Times reported Whittington Hospital NHS trust in Archway, north London, was recruiting a ‘corridor care' nurse to work 12-hour shifts.
Liberal Democrat health and social care spokesperson, Helen Morgan, said: ‘It is a scandal that corridor care is becoming normalised with thousands of patients left on trolleys for hours or even days on end.
‘The Government looks to be asleep at the wheel and must take rapid action to tackle this crisis. This must start with the health secretary producing an emergency plan to protect patients from this ongoing disaster.
‘It must include an urgent expansion of the number of hospital beds to get back to safe levels and a pandemic-style emergency recruitment campaign to bring staff out of retirement and back into the workforce.'
The Liberal Democrats called on the Government to urgently increase the number of hospital beds to bring bed occupancy levels down to the safe level of 85%. The Royal College of Emergency Medicine said it currently stands at 93%.
Meanwhile, the Royal College of Nursing called on the Government to publish provider-level data on all incidences of care delivered in temporary environments, announcing this by the time of the NHS Board meeting on 4 February.
A spokesperson for Whittington Health NHS Trust, said: ‘Our hospital has been experiencing very significant pressure in urgent and emergency care. In these circumstances we may have to provide care in corridors, as an absolute last resort. In common with other hospitals, where this is necessary we bring in additional staff on a temporary basis to ensure that care can be delivered as safely and compassionately as possible to patients.
‘We have worked with partners across the health and care system to request mutual aid at times of worst pressures, to alleviate the impact and ensure patients get care as quickly and safely as possible this winter. We apologise to any patient whose care has not met our usual high standards due to the exceptional level of demand and are grateful to all of our hardworking staff for their commitment during this period of extraordinary pressure.'
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: ‘It is shocking that corridor care has become a normal feature in our hospitals. Despite the best efforts of staff, patients are receiving unacceptable standards of treatment.
‘In our first six months, we've ended the strikes so staff are on the frontline not the picket line, introduced the new RSV vaccine, and we have vaccinated more people against flu than last winter. It will take time to fix our broken NHS, but it can be done.'
