The number of patients waiting more than 12 hours at east London A&Es increased by almost two-thirds in the past month.
The latest NHS England data shows that 1,361 patients waited more than 12 hours to be admitted to a ward after arriving at the emergency departments of Queen's Hospital in Romford and King George Hospital in Goodmayes during January.
This is up by 62 per cent from December 2025, when 840 patients faced a wait of this length for a ward bed.
The statistics, published on February 12, also show that numbers have risen from the same time last year - with 1,064 A&E patients waiting more than 12 hours for admission in January 2025.
While this data does not measure corridor care directly, A&E waits of 12 hours or more are the clearest indicator of corridor care taking place in hospitals, according to the Royal College of Nursing.
Corridor care means patients are treated on trolleys and chairs in corridors, waiting rooms, storage areas and other spaces not designed for care.
Fiona Wheeler, chief operating officer for Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (BHRUT) which runs the hospitals, said pressures such as winter bugs, complex discharges, and "record numbers" arriving at A&E have led to more patients experiencing longer waits at the trust's hospitals.
She told this paper: “Reducing waits for everyone is our top priority and we’re doing everything we can, including introducing a new route to initial assessment, getting patients treated an average of 37 minutes quicker.
"And initiatives to keep frail, older patients out of A&E where possible; 70 per cent of calls to our frailty line, staffed by geriatricians, have avoided A&E attendance; and our Frailty Same Day Emergency Care (FSDEC) unit is helping reduce the number of older patients on our corridors.
"A pilot launched this month, where elderly patients in A&E are seen by a geriatrician before being moved to FSDEC saw seven patients going home on the first day, with only one needing to be admitted."
In total, 30, 178 people visited BHRUT's A&Es in January, with 5,554 emergency admissions into its hospitals.
