Corridor care is a problem that is not going away in the NHS - Jayne Dowle

Hospital bosses are calling for people to consider their options before turning up with what can be minor ailments or matters which could be dealt with elsewhere, such as a GP, pharmacy, dentist or optician. Around 35 per cent of adults who sought emergency treatment didn’t need to be there, they say. No doubt this plea will fall on deaf ears.

There is much to be said about why this challenging situation is happening, and not just in Barnsley. Lack of GP provision, difficulty securing appointments, pharmacies run off their feet and the likelihood of finding a NHS dentist with space on their list as rare as well, hen’s teeth.

However, such pressures on all the UK’s A&E departments contribute to the pernicious practice of ‘corridor care’ which sees arrivals - often elderly, frail and vulnerable - stacked up anywhere a space can be found awaiting treatment.

Corridor care is defined as treatment in unsuitable environments lacking privacy, basic amenities, and conditions for rest.

It got so bad at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) that staff have shopped their own bosses. One of England’s largest trusts, NUH is now awaiting the findings of an investigation conducted by the Care Quality Commission.

As winter looms and A&Es become even busier, stamping out this dangerous practice should become a priority for the NHS.

In one of its many pledges, this government has already promised to end corridor care for all by the end of this parliament.

However, West Yorkshire MP and Health Secretary Yvette Cooper is now saying that eradicating the situation for children is a priority.

Warning of a "more difficult" winter than usual, she has asked the NHS to draw up urgent plans to speed up action, telling the BBC that there would be new standards for caring for children in A&E in England.

Cooper was speaking at the weekend on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg; the programme highlighted the case of two-year-old Finlay Roberts who died in 2024 after spending hours in a corridor at the Whittington Hospital in north London before being discharged.

She has also announced a £140m funding boost for urgent care capacity as part of an effort to deal with the impact of seasonal illnesses, including flu and norovirus. This will go towards 14 schemes across England, including new urgent care centres, ambulance fleets and upgrades to emergency departments.

However, health groups including Age UK, Marie Curie and the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), are highlighting their concern over corridor care, writing a letter to the Health Secretary last week.

In it they argued that corridor care was fundamentally incompatible with NHS care standards and requires “whole-system action” to eradicate it.

Whilst it is admirable that the Health Secretary is seeking to help children and improve matters, the elderly must not be forgotten.

This summer, analysis by the Nuffield Trust, an independent health and social care think tank, found that elderly patients, particularly those over 81, are disproportionately subjected to waits exceeding 12 hours in A&E departments, often ending up on corridors.

In addition, last year - twice as many (43 per cent) of over-80s faced a wait of more than 12 hours for admission into hospital from A&E, compared to 19 per cent of 21–30-year-olds.

As I know from hospital experiences with my own 82-year-old father, who suffered a stroke in May and remains fragile, corridor care and the elderly represent a complex situation of unintended consequences.

It’s often the case that there is simply nowhere for an elderly person to go; beds on elderly care wards are not freed up fast enough because discharge can be complex.

For elderly, frail and vulnerable admissions to A&E, the path to treatment and care and home again is rarely straightforward. This goes beyond the remit of the Health Secretary and highlights a key element of the much-vaunted ‘National Care Service’ the Prime Minister promises us.