Expert teams are to be deployed to trusts with the highest levels of corridor care to provide specialised and tailored support.
The government has plans to eradicate corridor care by the end of this parliament, with the majority of corridor care is concentrated in a small number of NHS trusts.
The Getting it Right First Time (GIRFT) teams will support leaders in the most affected hospitals to learn from those NHS trusts which have already made progress into reducing corridor care this year.
The teams will provide tailored support to each hospital – including identifying how to improve discharge and flow. This will help trusts to better understand their own data so they can improve predicting when surges in demand may appear and supporting clinical leaders in improved decision making.
The government has also confirmed the locations for 40 new and expanded urgent care sites across England. Backed by £215.5 million, the programme will provide 10 new urgent treatment centres (UTCs), four expanded UTCs, five new same day emergency care (SDEC) services and 21 expanded SDECs.
At Hull, the GIRFT team have helped to reduce ambulance handover delays by 27 per cent and cut 12-hour waits by 47 per cent. This has led to patients needing to spend less time on corridors and being treated more quickly. At Royal Blackburn (East Lancs), the main corridor has been cleared of patients, with an 18 per cent reduction in 12-hour waits. Changes included senior leaders such as Medical Director and Chief Nurse taking responsibility over how to prioritise those patients who should be discharged home so that patients in A&E who needed hospital care could be moved onto wards.
Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said: "For too long, the normalisation of corridor care has been baked into our NHS – it’s unacceptable, undignified and exactly why this government is shifting the dial for patients and staff.
"We’re sending in specialist teams of experts to identify the causes in some of the worst offending trusts and swiftly rectify the problems they find.
"That, plus new and expanded urgent care centres will mean patients are treated more quickly and in the right place, while easing pressure on busy A&Es to care for the most serious cases.
"We are cutting waiting times and moving away from unacceptable corridor care, building an NHS that treats patients with dignity.
"After the NHS performed significantly better this winter, we are going further to strengthen services and build a system fit for the future, backed by record investment."
Professor Tim Briggs, NHS England’s national director for clinical improvement, elective and UEC recovery, and Chair of the GIRFT programme, said: "We’re working hard to support the trusts facing the biggest challenges with patient flow and we’re seeing some good early evidence of reductions in corridor care for patients.
"We have worked alongside these trusts to produce guidance and standards, as well as providing hands-on support, which will help them significantly reduce corridor care. Our focus over the next six months is to take what we’ve learned and cascade it across the whole NHS, so we can improve care for patients and eliminate this issue once and for all."
