Nearly 3,000 sick patients were treated in NHS hospital corridors or makeshift areas every day in May rather than beds, but 20 trusts accounted for more than half of those cases.
The NHS trust with the worst rate of corridor care was London North West University Healthcare with more than 100 average daily cases last month, followed by Royal Free London with 86 and Lewisham & Greenwich, also in London, with 77 cases.
It comes as the NHS published data for the first time revealing the full scale of the national corridor care crisis.
More than 2,200 patients received care in a corridor of an A&E department every day in May, the data shows, while another 669 patients experienced it on or near hospital wards. Examples inappropriate settings include cupboards, cafes or toilets due to a lack of beds in emergency departments.
The daily number represents between 3 and 4 per cent of patients coming into hospital via A&E every day.
Corridor care is defined by NHS England as treatment that does not take place in a clinically appropriate and safe setting.
The criteria used for defining an appropriate setting include at-bed services such as oxygen and call bells; whether privacy can be maintained; access to food, water and toilets; and whether lights can be turned off and noise levels minimised to allow sleep.
If treatment does not meet any one of these criteria, is it classed as corridor care.
It is the first time figures for corridor care have been published by NHS England.
Two sets of data have been released, showing corridor care in hospital emergency departments and also in hospital wards.
The figures cover patients receiving treatment, waiting for assessment, admission or transfer, but do not include ambulance handover delays.
Some 20 NHS trusts accounted for more than half (51.1 per cent) of the average daily number of patients receiving corridor care for more than 45 minutes in emergency departments in May, with London North West University Healthcare having the highest number (100 patients or 4.4 per cent of the total), followed by the Royal Free London (86 or 3.8 per cent) and Lewisham & Greenwich (77 or 3.4 per cent).
For corridor care in hospital wards – which covers patients who are being treated within a ward but not in a designated bed space – 20 NHS trusts accounted for more than two-thirds (68.6 per cent) of the total in May, with North Bristol having the highest number (40 patients or 6 per cent of the average daily total), followed by University Hospitals Sussex (39 or 5.8 per cent) and Mid Yorkshire Hospitals (32 or 4.8 per cent).
The averages for patients are rounded to the nearest whole number, other than when the figure is between one and zero.
The NHS trusts have been contacted by The Independent.
