Health Secretary Yvette Cooper has asked the NHS to develop urgent plans to end "corridor care" for children in English hospitals, prioritizing the elimination of a practice in which patients receive treatment or wait in corridors and other unsuitable areas due to insufficient space.
Cooper made the announcement during a BBC interview on Sunday, stating that no child should be treated in a corridor. The government will establish new standards for children's care in accident and emergency departments and collect figures on corridor care by age for the first time, according to Cooper.
The announcement follows the case of two-year-old Finlay Roberts, who died in 2024 after spending hours in a hospital corridor at the Whittington Health NHS Trust in north London before being discharged. Finlay's father, David Roberts, described the situation to the BBC as a "terrible mess," noting the family was moved between a room with a bed and the corridor. His mother, Liz Roberts, said corridor care "robs people of their dignity when they are at their most vulnerable."
Cooper apologized to Finlay's parents on behalf of the NHS. The Whittington Health NHS Trust said in a statement that staff work "tirelessly to provide safe and compassionate care in extremely challenging conditions" and acknowledged that patients sometimes receive care in temporary clinical areas, including corridors, during periods of exceptional demand.
The government has previously pledged to end corridor care for all patients by the end of this parliamentary term and has now elevated the elimination of child corridor care as a priority. Cooper announced £140 million in funding to improve urgent care capacity ahead of what she described as a "more difficult" winter than usual. The money will support 14 schemes across England, including new urgent care centres, ambulance fleets and emergency department upgrades.
Health groups including Age UK, Marie Curie and the Royal College of Nursing wrote to Cooper on Friday urging action, describing corridor care as fundamentally incompatible with NHS care standards and requiring "whole-system action" to eliminate.
Shadow Health Secretary Damian Hinds said the government needed to act but asked where the funding would come from. RCN England Executive Director Patricia Marquis called the additional money "just another sticking plaster on a system that is at breaking point" and noted the nursing workforce enters winter "already running on empty and short of staff."