Salisbury District Hospital has been named as one of a number of hospitals across England set to benefit from a new or expanded urgent care unit as part of a national drive to end what ministers have branded “unacceptable, undignified” corridor care.
The Government has confirmed £215.5 million for 40 new and upgraded urgent and same-day emergency care centres, with Salisbury among the sites chosen alongside hospitals in London, Southampton and Winchester.
Corridor care is when patients end up waiting or being treated on trolleys in corridors, waiting rooms or other unsuitable areas for extended periods.
Salisbury District Hospital open day (Image: Spencer Mulholland)
NHS England now defines this as patients spending 45 minutes or more in clinically inappropriate areas of emergency departments or wards, and trusts have begun collecting data which will be published for the first time in May.
Ministers say the new centres are designed to treat people with urgent but non-life-threatening conditions more quickly, diverting them away from A&E and helping emergency departments concentrate on the sickest patients.
At the same time, specialist NHS teams from the Getting It Right First Time (Girft) programme will be sent into some of the worst-affected hospital trusts, where corridor-care rates are highest, to help improve patient flow and use data more effectively during busy periods.
Salisbury is not identified in this category and is instead highlighted as one of the hospitals set to receive extra investment.
Health 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.”
Elsewhere in the country, hospitals that have already made changes have reported sharp falls in corridor care and long waits, with sites such as Queen’s Hospital in Romford, Blackpool and Hull all seeing improvements after introducing new assessment processes and using data to better manage demand.
Professor Tim Briggs, NHS England’s national director for clinical improvement and chair of the Girft programme, said the focus over the next six months would be to spread that learning across the NHS.
Professional bodies, including the Society for Acute Medicine and the Royal College of Nursing, have welcomed the push but warned it must be backed by sustained investment in staffing and capacity.
Unison and Healthwatch England also stressed that, while the extra help will be welcomed at hospitals under the most pressure, a longer-term plan is needed to ensure patients are not left waiting in corridors anywhere in the country.
Salisbury’s inclusion in the list of new urgent care sites is being presented as part of that solution, with the new or expanded unit expected to ease pressure on A&E and help keep local patients out of corridors.