NHS Corridor Care
Harriet Cross Excerpts(2 weeks, 5 days ago)
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Dr Caroline Johnson (Sleaford and North Hykeham) (Con)
I should begin by declaring my interests as a member of the British Medical Association, a member of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, and an NHS paediatric consultant.
I thank the hon. Member for Tooting (Dr Allin-Khan) for initiating the debate. I know that, as a practising doctor like me, and, in particular, as someone who works in an emergency department, she understands the importance of this subject. Let me also pay tribute to the staff who work throughout our health service, some of them in quite difficult circumstances.
I am glad to respond to this debate on what is a very important but very difficult issue. Every day in May, nearly 3,000 patients spent time in so-called clinically inappropriate spaces. These may be corridors, but as we have heard, they may also be cupboards or waiting areas. That is not good enough. Corridors are no place to provide clinical and nursing care. There is no privacy and dignity for people getting changed or being examined, and others may overhear what is said about their medical conditions. It is not safe. The hon. Member for Mid Sussex (Alison Bennett) pointed out the infection control risks. Availability of oxygen has also been mentioned. If someone has a cardiac arrest and collapses, where is the space for them to be looked after?
I wonder if the Minister can tell us whether the Government intend to support new clause 84 of the Health Bill when we discuss it in Committee, probably next week. The new clause requires the number of patients who have died when 12-hour waits in A&E departments were a contributory factor to be recorded.
We have heard upsetting stories this afternoon, and I have heard some myself in my constituency, including that of a gentleman who sat for more than 60 hours in a plastic chair while receiving intravenous antibiotics for sepsis. These are all examples of a much broader and more serious problem. Every day, patients, often frail and elderly, are kept for hours on trolleys in corridors or on chairs in waiting rooms. As we heard from the hon. Member for Stroud (Dr Opher), we have an ageing population, so this problem is applying more pressure. A&E attendances increased by 2.5% last year. The latest figures show that in May this year alone, 50,212 patients waited in A&E for more than 12 hours after a decision to admit them to hospital. That represents a 17.1% increase since last May.
Last year, the Government produced their urgent and emergency care plan, in which they set their targets, including the target for an absolute minimum of 78% of patients to be admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours. That target is well below the NHS constitutional standard, but, furthermore, the latest NHS data shows that the Government have missed it, with 25.7% of patients seen within four hours in May 2026, down from 76.9% in the previous month. Things are actually going in the wrong direction.
We need to consider why patients are being cared for in corridors. Essentially, it is a reflection of the lack of appropriate spaces, often spaces in an in-patient ward. We therefore need a structured plan. The hon. Members for Shipley (Anna Dixon) and for Worthing West (Dr Cooper) spoke about where we should start. We should start with prevention, care at home and virtual wards. We need to think about delivery in rural areas. The hon. Member for Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket (Dr Prinsley) talked about care and treatment in the community, and others have talked about improved social care. I hope the Minister will tell us whether, when we debate the Health Bill in Committee, she will accept new clauses 105 and 106, which relate to how people can care for themselves, to education and to the safety and classification of prescription-only medicines, so that the more simple conditions can be managed closer to home by pharmacists.
Harriet Cross (Gordon and Buchan) (Con)
Community care, which my hon. Friend has just touched on, is still important, particularly in preventing the need for corridor care. Insch War Memorial hospital, in my constituency, has been earmarked for closure, which is completely wrong. The trustees have done an amazing job in raising money to keep this vital community asset open. Does my hon. Friend agree that such community hospitals are vital not just for rural communities, but in helping the larger hospitals to manage their own patient care?
Dr Johnson
I absolutely agree. The NHS is devolved in Scotland, but that sounds like a very unwise decision that it should certainly reconsider. I am sure my hon. Friend will be a doughty campaigner in ensuring that it does so.
That brings me to the next part of my speech, which is about the extra space in emergency departments and the importance of caring well for people in A&E. I ask the Minister for an update on the work that Dr Acheson and the Royal College of Emergency Medicine have been doing on on-time medication, as we need to make sure that patients do not suffer detriment in A&E because they are not given medication on time. An hon. Gentleman on the Labour Benches talked about the extra space on wards and the number of beds. The number of beds has reduced over time, partly because we do clinical care differently—for example, people now stay in hospital for a much shorter period after having a baby, and that is true of other operations too. However, my understanding is that the total number of beds has dropped further since Labour came into office. Can the Minister explain why that is?
It is fair to say that we did not get everything right when we were in office, but we did increase the number of emergency department doctors by 100% between 2010 and 2024, and we met our manifesto commitment to hire 50,000 new nurses. We developed a long-term workforce plan, but this Government did not want our plan; they wanted their own. They said that they would deliver it by the autumn, and then by the spring. It has now been “imminent” for quite some time, but how soon is imminent?
As many Members have said, we need to tackle corridor care, but we also need to tackle the back door: social care. Two years ago, this Government promised cross-party talks. As has been mentioned already, they took nine months to have the first meeting and have only recently had the second meeting. That is not tackling the problem with the urgency that it needs. The Casey report is not due till 2028, and this is being kicked into the long grass. We can only hope that the new Prime Minister will make a difference.
As my hon. Friend the Member for Reigate (Rebecca Paul) said, the Government need a plan. I hope the Minister will explain in detail how they intend to deliver on their plan, because delivery is key. We often hear of targets and aims, which are easy to set but hard to reach. What have we seen so far? Long A&E waits are up, and we have seen overall waiting lists increase by 112,000 on the previous months. The number of people waiting for operations and procedures is up on last year and last month. The Government have ditched their promise to deliver a doubling of medical school places, and delayed the workplace plan. The promise to roll out fracture liaison services is running behind schedule, and there is still no response to the Hughes report. I could go on, but the basic issue is that the Government seem keen to set targets—worthy and important goals—without knowing how to deliver them, leading inevitably to disappointment.
Can the Minister say how she will meet the target of abolishing corridor care? What will be the effect of reducing the capital budget, as announced in the defence investment plan? What does she think will be the effect of removing the social care voice from ICBs? Importantly, as we look forward to winter, what planning is being done now to make sure that patients are kept safe in the autumn and winter?
Puberty Blockers
Harriet Cross Excerpts(1 month ago)
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Harriet Cross (Gordon and Buchan) (Con)
For clarity, are Scottish children going to be included in the trial, either by being able to travel south of the border or via NHS Scotland directly?
James Murray
I have responsibility for NHS England as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, and I am setting out the protocol agreed in relation to this trial, as it is a subject that is arousing a lot of questions in the Chamber, which is fair. [Interruption.] I will come back to that point, if the hon. Member for Gordon and Buchan (Harriet Cross) allows me to make a little progress.
Oral Answers to Questions
Harriet Cross Excerpts(5 months ago)
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Karin Smyth
My hon. Friend highlights an important example, where something is clearly not going well. The Department is working with the team at Alder Hey to help rectify some of those problems. That is why we will not be using that PFI model in future. We have learned those lessons and we will take forward a new PPP model for our neighbourhood health service that will transform care for people in his constituency and across the country.
Harriet Cross (Gordon and Buchan) (Con)
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Wes Streeting)
Today we are publishing a new GP contract. Backed by new funding, it will recruit more GPs and cut waiting times for appointments. The changes and modernisation will diagnose thousands more cases of lung cancer, protect children by boosting vaccination rates, and provide more people with weight-loss jabs on the NHS. That follows an extra £1.1 billion that we have invested in general practice this year, and builds on the 2,000 more GPs that we have recruited since the general election. After 14 years of decline, the Government are fixing the front door to the NHS, bringing back the family doctor, and ending the 8am scramble. Lots done, lots more to do.
Harriet Cross
Inverurie medical practice in my constituency saw its national insurance bill rise by £75,000 thanks to this Government. That has put huge pressure on the practice, which was already operating with one GP for 3,000 patients, which is three times higher than the British Medical Association recommends. When did the Secretary of State last meet the Chancellor to discuss the impact of the NICs rise on GP practices, and what are he and his Department doing about the pressure—
