The parents of a two-year-old boy who died after spending hours in a busy A&E corridor say the NHS is "fundamentally broken". Finlay Roberts was taken to the Whittington Hospital in north London with a stomach ache in July 2024. Medics failed to identify that he had a twisted bowel, and the toddler spent nine hours in the emergency department, most of it in a corridor.
Finlay's mother, Liz Roberts, said: "I think it's very difficult to assess how unwell somebody is when you're sitting in a corridor with everything going on around you. The reality was he was the sickest person there, that evening. Just a few hours later, he'd be back there and they'd be saying that he had died."
Corridor Care Outlawed but Widespread
Corridor care became widespread in the NHS after the Covid-19 pandemic and involves treating patients in non-clinical spaces such as corridors, offices and walk-in cupboards. The practice was quietly rolled out across the NHS in England in 2022 to get ambulances queuing outside A&Es back on the road quicker, as The Mirror previously revealed.
Analysis carried by the Trainee Emergency Research Network looked at 165 A&Es and found it is happening to hundreds of children every month. Researchers gathered snapshot data from 165 hospitals across the UK in March 2025. In specialist paediatric A&E departments, almost 7% of children were treated in spaces like a waiting room, the back of an ambulance or a corridor. Across all emergency departments that see children, they found 15% of children who were admitted had been treated in these areas.
Final Hours in a Public Space
In his final hours, Liz had to administer a rectal suppository to critically ill Finlay while sitting on a chair in the public area. She said: "If you think about the reality of that, I removed his nappy in a public space, in full view of everyone, to administer medicine that he needed. He was, as we know now, gravely unwell, just hours from his death."
Finlay was sent home at around 1am, but hours later his mother found him in the bed next to her, not breathing. An inquest found routine medical observations were not carried out, and there were communication failures. The coroner said that different hospital care that night would have given Finlay "a chance" of survival. Liz said: "It's very, very difficult for us to accept that - to live with that reality."
'Emblematic of a Broken System'
Finlay's father, David Roberts, said: "Being on the chair for hours and hours in the corridor, it's not exactly what killed him, but it's just perfectly emblematic of a broken system, not breaking - fundamentally broken. If kids who are in that degree of need, if they're just sitting on their parent in the corridor.. this is a broken system."
The family is fundraising for the maternity unit at University College London Hospital in Finlay's memory. They now have a 10-month-old daughter, Elsie. Liz said: "We miss Finny all the time. He is the weather in which we live our lives, he is ever-present – which makes his absence so startling."
Dr Tom Roberts, an A&E consultant who carried out the research, told ITV News that the situation is "truly heartbreaking", adding: "I don't think it is moral that anyone spends time in a corridor - be that a 90-year-old or a one-year-old."
The NHS officially defines corridor care as a patient spending 45 minutes or longer in a clinically inappropriate area of an A&E or a ward. Hospital trusts have been required to collect and publicly report monthly corridor care data since May to expose and target overcrowded departments.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "Our thoughts are with Finlay's family and loved ones. No parent should ever have to go through what the Roberts family has endured. Corridor care is always unacceptable, but it is especially so when children are involved. Children should be treated in safe, appropriate settings that protect their dignity and allow staff to provide the best possible care. We are determined to end corridor care. We have published data for the first time to identify where pressure is greatest, and are deploying expert teams into the most challenged trusts to improve performance."
An NHS England spokesperson said: "This survey covers one of the busiest months in NHS history, is over 18 months old, and bears little resemblance to what is happening in the NHS today. We have always been clear that corridor care is never acceptable for children and young people and since July last year have been making significant strides in rapidly reducing instances of care in inappropriate settings."
A spokesperson from Whittington Hospital said: "Our staff work tirelessly to provide safe and compassionate care in extremely challenging conditions, and we continue to take all possible steps to improve patient flow, increase capacity and reduce the need for care to be delivered in these environments. The trust extends its sincere condolences to Finlay's family."
The full report will air on ITV News at 18:30 and will also be available to watch on ITVX and the ITV News YouTube channel.
