Immediate action has been promised by the health secretary to end the treatment of young patients in NHS hospital corridors, reports BritPanorama.
Appearing on the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme, Yvette Cooper stated she had asked the chief executive of NHS England to “have urgent new standards drawn up for how children should be treated in A&E, including an urgent plan to eliminate corridor care for children as a priority.”
She added, “We’ve got a plan for the whole of the Parliament to end corridor care more broadly, but then also to prioritise that and to do so urgently for children.”
While overall corridor care metrics began being recorded this summer, Ms. Cooper noted that the government will now track figures specifically for children.
Speaking on the show, she asserted, “No child should be treated in a corridor.” She emphasized the need for “urgent action to address corridor care and support for children.”
The number of people waiting more than 12 hours in A&E departments in England from the decision to admit to actually being admitted—so-called “corridor care”—stood at 50,582 in September, an increase from 44,951 in August.
The number waiting at least four hours from the decision to admit to admission rose as well, now at 129,199 in September, up from 118,550 in August.
An average of 3,310 patients in England received corridor care each day in September, with 2,549 in A&E departments and 761 in other hospital areas, according to NHS figures. This marks an uptick from an average of 2,865 per day in August, consisting of 2,297 in emergency departments and 568 in other areas.
Ms. Cooper also insisted that child health needs to be “a much greater priority for the NHS,” asserting it has been treated as “a bit of a sidecar for the National Health Service” and advocating for its elevation to a central concern.
When asked if that would mean reallocating funds from other parts of the NHS budget to enhance child health interventions, she acknowledged, “Obviously, look, priorities, you know, investment follows.”
Before her television appearance, the Health Secretary had also warned that the NHS faces a more challenging winter than usual, as she announced a £140 million boost for urgent care in England.
She noted, “Winter will be more challenging for our NHS this year, after such a heavy summer. That’s why we have been preparing early and investing in extra urgent care capacity to help get patients the care they need.”
The funds will be allocated to 14 schemes across the country, which include the establishment of new urgent care centres, enhancements to ambulance fleets, and upgrades to emergency departments.
