Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of (1) crowding, and (2) corridor care, on nosocomial outbreaks of COVID-19 in hospitals.

Throughout the pandemic, the safety of all staff, patients and visitors has been a priority for the National Health Service.

It is for individual hospital trusts to carry out continual risk assessments of their premises and to put appropriate measures in place such as distancing, sanitising stations and the use of face coverings and other protective equipment to help minimise the spread of the COVID-19 virus, in line with nationally published guidance. This includes busy areas like accident and emergency departments, corridors and patient areas such wards and clinics.