Yvette Cooper Orders NHS Plan to End Children's Corridor Care as 12-Hour A&E Waits Hit 50,582
Updated
Updated · bbc.co.uk · Oct 18
Yvette Cooper Orders NHS Plan to End Children's Corridor Care as 12-Hour A&E Waits Hit 50,582
3 articles · Updated · bbc.co.uk · Oct 18
Summary
Children treated in hospital corridors have been made an urgent priority after Yvette Cooper told NHS England to produce a plan to eliminate the practice and set new A&E standards for child care.
50,582 patients waited more than 12 hours from a decision to admit to actual admission in September, up from 44,951 in August, and Cooper said children will now be counted in those figures.
£140 million will fund 14 urgent-care schemes across England, including new urgent care centres, ambulance fleets and emergency department upgrades, as ministers brace for a difficult winter.
7.3 million A&E attendances between June and August made this England's busiest summer on record, with NHS leaders warning flu, norovirus and other respiratory viruses are already adding pressure.
7.37 million treatments were still waiting at the end of August, underscoring broader strain on the NHS as unions call the new funding a short-term fix and the government targets ending corridor care by parliament's end.
If emergency room bottlenecks are a year-round crisis, can new government mandates actually protect children from being treated in unsafe hospital corridors?
With studies linking corridor care directly to higher mortality, will a £140 million band-aid truly save patients from this hidden hospital trap?