Ending corridor care in hospitals for children a priority, says health secretary

The health secretary has asked the NHS to draw up urgent plans to speed up ending hospital "corridor care" for children.

Yvette Cooper told the BBC there would be new standards for caring for children in A&E in England, with figures collected on corridor care by age for the first time.

She was speaking on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg where the programme highlighted the case of two-year-old Finlay Roberts who died in a hospital corridor in 2024.

The health secretary has announced £140m to improve urgent care in England ahead of what she said would be a "more difficult" winter than usual.

The government has already pledged to end corridor care for all patients by the end of this parliament, and now Cooper has said eradicating it for children would be prioritised.

Corridor care refers to patients receiving treatment or waiting in corridors, waiting rooms or other hospital areas due to a lack of appropriate space.

The health secretary was also asked if the government would meet a key manifesto pledge that 92% of patients would start treatment within 18 weeks of booking a hospital appointment by 2029.

"That remains our manifesto commitment and of course we're going to keep working towards it," Cooper said.

Pushed further on whether the target was achievable, she replied: "The whole point about having the targets is about having something stretching that we work towards."

The 18-week target has consistently not been met for more than a decade.

Cooper said that the NHS was dealing with a number of challenges after record A&E admissions following heatwaves over the summer.

According to the latest figures for England, an estimated 7.37 million treatments were waiting to be carried out at the end of August, relating to 6.24 million patients.

On the programme the story of Finlay Roberts, who died in 2024 after spending the final hours of his life in an A&E corridor in north London was highlighted.

Finlay's father David told the BBC the situation was a "terrible mess", with the family moved into a room with a bed before being moved back into the corridor.

"He just clung to me, as we now know, slowly dying," he said.

Liz Roberts, Finlay's mother, said corridor care "robs people of their dignity when they are at their most vulnerable". She recalled being told to administer a suppository to her son in the corridor.

Cooper apologised to Finlay's parents on behalf of the NHS, saying: "No child should be treated in a corridor. No patient should be treated in a corridor."

The Whittington Health NHS Trust where this happened extended their condolences to the family.

They said they continued to experience periods of exceptional demand across emergency care and at times some patients may receive care in temporary clinical areas, including corridors.

"Our staff work tirelessly to provide safe and compassionate care in extremely challenging conditions," they said.

On Friday health groups - including Age UK, Marie Curie and the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), also expressed their concern over corridor care, writing a letter to the health secretary urging her to take action.

It said the practice was fundamentally incompatible with NHS care standards and it would require "whole-system action" to eradicate it.

This weekend Cooper announced £140m funding to boost urgent care capacity as part of an effort to deal with the impact of seasonal illnesses, including flu and norovirus.

The money will go towards 14 schemes across England, including new urgent care centres, ambulance fleets and upgrades to emergency departments.

Shadow health secretary Damian Hinds said the government needed to act, but asked it to explain where the money was coming from.

It comes after almost 7.3 million people attended A&E between June and August in England, according to NHS data, the highest ever figure for a summer period.

Health thinktank the King's Fund warned that the service was facing a "twin crisis" going into the winter, with little time between peak periods for staff and the system to recover.

NHS leaders are urging eligible people to get flu vaccinations, with medical director Prof Frankie Swords saying earlir this month there were "ominous" signs of winter pressure already affecting hospitals.

Swords said there were more patients coming to A&E with flu and other respiratory viruses than usual for this time of year.

RCN England's executive director Patricia Marquis said the extra money was welcome but would ultimately provide "just another sticking plaster on a system that is at breaking point".