UK Health Secretary Demands Urgent Action to Stop Children Receiving Care in Hospital Corridors

Health Secretary Yvette Cooper has told the BBC that the NHS must take urgent steps to stop children from receiving treatment in hospital corridors. Cooper said she has asked NHS England to create an urgent plan to remove corridor care for children as a priority and to set up new standards for treating children at A&E. More than a dozen health groups recently urged the health secretary to take action on this issue. Cooper also announced that the way data is collected will change so that children are included in official figures.

Funding And Winter Pressures

Cooper announced a £140m investment to boost urgent care capacity across England ahead of what is expected to be a difficult winter. The money will fund 14 schemes, which include new urgent care centres, ambulance fleets, and upgrades to emergency departments. This comes after the NHS experienced its busiest summer on record following multiple heatwaves, with nearly 7.3 million people attending A&E between June and August. Officials are already seeing early signs of pressure, with more patients arriving with flu and other respiratory viruses than usual for this time of year. Meanwhile, the waiting list for routine hospital treatment in England rose for the second month in a row, reaching 7.37 million treatments for 6.24 million patients at the end of August.

Reactions And Target

Shadow health secretary Damian Hinds said the government needs to act but questioned where the new funding is coming from. The Royal College of Nursing England described the money as a temporary fix, with executive director Patricia Marquis stating that the nursing workforce is already running on empty and short of staff. Health thinktank the King's Fund warned of a twin crisis going into winter, while NHS leaders urge eligible people to get flu vaccinations. The government maintains a broader plan to end corridor care across the entire health service by the end of this parliament.

Context

Corridor care refers to the practice of treating patients in temporary spaces like hallways due to a lack of available beds and high emergency department demand. Health systems in many regions frequently face severe seasonal strains during winter months as cold weather brings spikes in flu, norovirus, and other respiratory illnesses. Government health spending and hospital waiting lists remain central political debates in the UK, with officials balancing long-term workforce challenges against immediate winter pressures.