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The UK’s most senior A&E doctor has accused NHS leaders of normalising corridor care with major plans for winter this year, The Independent can reveal.
Dr Adrian Boyle, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, has warned NHS guidance published this week also blasted national leaders’ guidance, warning that it will be “insufficient” to tackle “dangerous” 12-hour waits in A&E.
NHS England has published guidance for hospitals on how to manage patients in corridors, where previously it would advise corridor care is not acceptable.
Dr Boyle said: “In its guidance for providing ‘safe’ corridor care, NHS England has said the practice ‘is not acceptable and should not be considered as standard’, however anyone working in an Emergency Department across the country knows that it very much is the standard, and not just in winter.
“Publishing this document is an explicit acknowledgement, and a normalisation, of an unacceptable situation.”
The comments come after Lord Darzi’s investigation into the NHS, which warned that years of austerity had left A&E services in an “awful state.”
Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer warned last week A&E waiting times were “a source of fear and anxiety” and “leading to avoidable deaths”.
Dr Boyle said the issue behind overcrowding in hospitals was linked to their ability to discharge and admit patients in a timely way.
The Royal College President criticised NHS England’s plan for winter warning it was “insufficient” as it just asks trusts to make sure “plans are in place”.
The Independent has previously revealed almost 500 deaths a week may be occurring due to patients waiting more than 12 hours in A&E.
In 2023 The Royal College of Emergency Medicine warned the government these waits had led to 300 deaths a week.
Dr Boyle said: “I am disappointed by the continuation of focus on the four-hour standard and a total lack of focus on where the true danger lies – in waits of 12 hours are more, which we know are deadly.
“This goes beyond targets, as the prime minister said in his response to the Darzi review of the NHS, addressing excessive waiting times is ’literally [a matter of] life and death’.
“This long-awaited winter letter will provide little hope or confidence for those working in emergency medicine, or for those who will need to rely on its care in the coming months.”
NHS England was approached for comment.
