Councillor's corridor care testimony highlights failings at Queen's Hospital
Councillor Marion Hull has spoken out about her distressing experience of receiving care in a corridor at Queen's Hospital, highlighting failings in patient dignity, privacy, and pain management.
Councillor Hull described excruciating pain, prolonged waits for pain relief and a catheter, and a lack of privacy while being treated in a busy corridor following a fall that resulted in a broken hip and wrist. Her testimony, read to the Barking and Dagenham Health Scrutiny Committee, detailed the distressing experience of being on a trolley in a corridor with patients and relatives passing by, and a lack of dignity when needing to change clothes for an X-ray. The testimony clearly indicates prolonged and distressing delays for both pain relief and catheterisation, with Councillor Hull stating, The pain relief I had initially had worn off. And I suggested cutting my jeans off because I knew it would hurt. But however, a nurse had skillfully removed them. I had to wait again for an X-ray. And eventually I went back where they confirmed that I had broken my hip. I went back to A&E, but this time to a corridor... By this time, the pain was excruciating. And I was told I would be given pain relief and a urinary catheter. ... In another 30 minutes, the space became available and I had not received any pain relief and the catheter had still not been inserted.
The testimony also mentions, In total, six nurses came and said, I'm coming back, but never returned.
Andrew Deaner, Chief Medical Officer for Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (BHRUT), apologised for the care Councillor Hull received and acknowledged that while efforts were being made to reduce corridor care, it had not yet been eradicated. He assured the committee that measures were being implemented to improve patient dignity, confidentiality, and safety when corridor care could not be avoided, including the use of screens and designated areas for toileting and showering.
Mr Deaner also presented an update on patient flow and overcrowding. Queen's Hospital's A&E department was built for 300 or so patients a day, and we've been receiving, on many occasions, more than twice that number of patients.
To address this significant overcrowding, the Trust is implementing several measures. A significant step is the secured funding of £42 million to rebuild the A&E department, with construction expected to begin in the coming months. Initiatives to improve patient flow include daily flow meetings involving senior clinical staff and site teams, and partnership working with organisations like PELC (Partnership of East London Cooperative), who run the urgent treatment centres, to divert less seriously ill patients from A&E.
PELC divert 7 in 10 walk-in patients away from our A&Es to services better placed to meet their needs.
The criteria for this diversion are that the patients are less seriously ill
and that the services are better placed to meet their needs.
The Trust is also working to reduce length of stay and improve flow through the hospital to allow patients to move from the emergency department to hospital beds at the earliest possible time. Furthermore, a frailty ESDEC (same-day emergency care) unit has been established at Queen's Hospital to provide innovative care for frail elderly patients, aiming to avoid hospital admissions where possible. A medical ASDEC (same-day emergency care) unit with a new pathway has also been opened at Queen's, similar to one at King George, to stream patients directly for treatment and potential discharge on the same day.
BHRUT has seen a 25% reduction in patients receiving care in corridors over the past three months, with 4,681 patients treated in corridors compared to 6,274 in the same period last year. The long-term strategy to permanently eradicate corridor care involves getting to a point where only patients who have no alternative but to be in hospital are admitted. This requires working with the community to ensure other facilities are available and used appropriately. The Trust aims to improve recruitment and have robust ambulatory options outside of hospital, such as care in the home or closer to home in surgeries, polyclinics, or Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs). When patients become acutely ill, the Trust is developing telephone lines, like a frailty line, to provide advice and avoid admission. For admitted patients, the focus is on reducing length of stay to free up ward capacity. This involves speeding up internal processes, reducing the time patients wait in A&E for transfer, and facilitating timely discharge. The Trust also emphasises working with partners, including local authorities, to ensure that frail and elderly patients needing additional care have access to appropriate facilities in their own homes or in nursing/residential homes.
Public reports pack Wednesday 21-Oct-2026 19.00 Health Scrutiny Committee