'Divisive ' : Patients are left in corridors outside wards they should be in while waiting for a free bed . Hospitals are being encouraged to park seriously ill patients on trolleys in corridors to ease the A & E crisis . Doctors say the controversial practice of ‘ boarding ’ – which amounts to letting wards overflow – is already being used at a number of under-pressure hospitals in England . It involves putting patients on trolleys outside the wards they should be in while they wait for a free bed instead of keeping them in A & E . Rather than criticising the measure , desperate A & E doctors say boarding should be used more widely – even though they concede it is ‘ potentially toxic ’ . They argue it is necessary to free up space in overcrowded casualty units . As a result , doctors at the influential Royal College of Emergency Medicine ( RCEM ) have now given boarding their backing . But critics question its safety , amid fears that giving the green light to boarding could serve to legitimise overflowing NHS wards . Dr Adrian Boyle , an A & E consultant at Addenbrooke ’ s Hospital in Cambridge and a prominent RCEM member , argued it was better to have patients waiting on corridor trolleys , after they had been seen and assessed , than languishing outside A & E in queuing ambulances . Between mid-December and mid-January , there were 11,203 occasions across England – more than 350 a day – in which ambulances were forced to wait more than an hour to hand over their patients because A & Es were full . Casualties are often crammed because patients can not be shifted elsewhere in the hospital due to lack of beds – a situation called ‘ exit block ’ . Studies show that when A & Es are crowded , patients fare worse and death rates can rise . Dr Boyle said : ‘ Boarding spreads the risk across the whole hospital , rather than concentrating and multiplying it in the emergency department. ’ He admitted it was ‘ potentially toxic and divisive ’ but said an ‘ exceptional response ’ was needed to ‘ exceptional circumstances ’ . Dr Boyle said that ‘ a handful ’ of hospitals now use boarding during busy periods , but he would not name them . A spokesman for Addenbrooke ’ s said they did not use the practice . Dr Boyle was speaking at a conference organised by the RCEM , which is advocating greater use of boarding . With hospitals – and A & Es in particular – getting busier every year , he said action had to be taken to better manage the rising flow of patients . ‘ If we get a trend like this going on into next winter , it ’ s going to be like Armageddon , ’ he warned . On 11,203 occasions across England – more than 350 a day – ambulances were forced to wait more than an hour to hand over their patients because A & Es were full . Emergency doctors also see boarding as a way of making their hospital colleagues realise the problems they are facing . Dr Katherine Henderson , an A & E consultant at St Thomas ’ s Hospital in London , said : ‘ It is not acceptable to have people waiting in the emergency department , out of sight of the rest of the hospital. ’ But many medics have serious reservations . Dr Chris Whale , clinical director of Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust , said there was ‘ pretty much no evidence ’ that boarding was safe in NHS hospitals . He said : ‘ For a Royal college to advocate this is fairly hazardous , without the evidence base to support it. ’ The Mail on Sunday has been campaigning for almost three years to stop the closure of A & E units .
Doctors at the College of Emergency Medicine have backed up . Involves put patients on trolleys outside wards while waiting for bed . Critics question safety amid fears that it could legitimise overflowing wards . A & Es were full 11,203 beds in operation from mid - march to mid - January .