Ending corridor care in hospitals for children is top priority
UK Health Secretary Yvette Cooper pledges to eradicate child corridor care in hospitals as A&E wait times and winter pressures mount.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
- Health Secretary prioritizes ending hospital corridor care for children
- Over 50,000 patients waited 12+ hours in A&E departments in September
- Government allocates £140 million to boost urgent care capacity for winter
The UK National Health Service (NHS) must take immediate action to stop children from receiving medical treatment in hospital corridors, Health Secretary Yvette Cooper told the BBC, calling the practice entirely unacceptable.
The announcement follows an open letter sent by more than 16 health organizations, including Age UK, Marie Curie, and the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), urging the health secretary to eradicate corridor care, which they argue fundamentally breaches NHS clinical standards and requires systemic reform.
Official data revealed that 50,582 people waited more than 12 hours in accident and emergency departments from the decision to admit until actual admission in September, up from 44,951 in August. Cooper stated that data collection methods will now be updated to explicitly include children, with the broader government target to eliminate corridor care by the end of the current parliament.
"No child should be treated in a corridor. No patient should be treated in a corridor."
Yvette Cooper, UK Health Secretary
The urgency of the issue was highlighted by the tragic case of Finlay Roberts, a two-year-old boy who died in 2024 after spending his final hours in a crowded emergency department corridor. After listening to their harrowing account, Cooper formally apologized to the grieving parents on behalf of the NHS.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
The ongoing crisis surrounding corridor care in British hospitals highlights the deep structural strains within the NHS as it transitions from a record-breaking summer into a punishing winter season. With seasonal respiratory illnesses and flu cases rising, the pledge to protect children from corridor treatment marks a vital political commitment, though healthcare unions continue to warn that workforce shortages and infrastructure bottlenecks require much deeper structural investment.
Prior to her remarks, Cooper warned that the NHS faces an unusually demanding winter following multiple heatwaves that drove summer emergency attendances to a record high of nearly 7.3 million visits in England between June and August. In response, she announced £140 million in funding distributed across 14 schemes in England to establish new urgent care centers and upgrade emergency facilities.
Critics, however, remain skeptical. Shadow health secretary Damian Hinds questioned where the new funding originates, while the Royal College of Nursing in England dismissed the financial injection as merely another temporary fix while nursing staff continue to operate under severe shortages.
Source: BBC Politics
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