WIREDGOV

NHS deploys specialist teams and expands urgent care services to tackle corridor care, cut waits and ease A&E pressure, targeting worst-affected trusts.

• Bespoke plans being drafted in Trusts with highest rates of corridor care – bringing the best of the NHS to bear on some of the country’s worst offenders.
• Specialist teams working with Trusts to help meet government target of ending corridor care by the end of this Parliament.
• Move comes alongside confirmation of 40 new and expanded same day emergency care and urgent care centres to ease pressure on busy A&Es.

NHS leaders in trusts with the highest levels of corridor care are getting specialised and tailored support as part of plans to eradicate corridor care by the end of this Parliament.

Expert teams are being deployed to the most affected hospitals, providing bespoke clinical support to leadership staff, as early data shows the majority of corridor care is concentrated in a small number of NHS trusts.

The Getting it Right First Time (GIRFT) team are supporting leaders in the most affected hospitals to learn from those NHS trusts which have already made significant inroads into reducing corridor care this year – all at a time when significant progress is being made across urgent and emergency care, including the shortest A&E waiting times in four years and ambulance response times the fastest for half a decade despite record demand.

The specialist GIRFT teams provide tailored support to each hospital – including identifying how to improve discharge and flow, helping 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.

Alongside introducing a new, measurable definition of corridor care, the targeted support is the latest in a series of steps the government is taking to drive urgent improvements and show it is serious about delivering for patients.

To further tackle pressures in busy hospital departments, the government can now confirm the locations for 40 new and expanded urgent care sites across England.

The programme, backed by £215.5 million, includes 10 new urgent treatment centres (UTCs), four expanded UTCs, five new same day emergency care (SDEC) services and 21 expanded SDECs, providing a significant increase in frontline capacity.

This will help ease pressure on A&E departments by ensuring more patients are treated in the right setting. Reducing waiting times and improving patient flow through hospitals to tackle corridor care.

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