The Government has announced that expert teams will be deployed to NHS trusts with the highest rates of corridor care in an effort to end the “unacceptable, undignified” practice. Ministers aim to eradicate corridor care by the end of Parliament, with the worst offending trusts receiving support to better understand data and improve patient flow.
The announcement coincides with the Department of Health and Social Care revealing the locations of 40 new and expanded same-day emergency care and urgent care centres, intended to treat patients faster and ease pressure on A&E departments. NHS England published its definition of corridor care in March, which includes patients spending 45 minutes or more in clinically inappropriate areas such as hallways or waiting rooms.
Under the new initiative, the Getting it Right First Time (Girft) team will work with leaders at the worst offending trusts to offer support on improving patient flow and understanding data to cope with surges in demand. Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “For too long, the normalisation of corridor care has been baked into our NHS – it’s unacceptable, undignified and exactly why this Government is shifting the dial for patients and staff.”
Mr Streeting made the announcement during a visit to Queen’s Hospital in Romford, which has provided 10,000 fewer hours of corridor care in February than in the same month last year. The hospital’s emergency department has introduced a new assessment process that has cut waiting times by 37 minutes. He told the Press Association: “If they can do it here, we can do it everywhere.”
Elsewhere, improvements have been noted in Blackpool, where 12-hour waits have fallen by 43%, and in Hull, where ambulance handover delays are down by 27%. Professor Tim Briggs, NHS England’s national director for clinical improvement, said the focus over the next six months is to take what has been learned and cascade it across the whole NHS. Dr Ragit Varia, president-elect of the Society for Acute Medicine, welcomed the initiative, while Professor Nicola Ranger of the Royal College of Nursing stressed that corridor care happening anywhere is unacceptable and a risk to patient safety.
