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Health Secretary Yvette Cooper has asked NHS leaders in England to speed up plans to end corridor care for children, following the death of two-year-old Finlay Roberts after he spent hours in an A&E corridor before being discharged in 2024. The government says it will introduce children’s emergency care standards, track corridor care by age for the first time and provide £140 million for 14 urgent care schemes. No end date for corridor care for children has been set.
Health Secretary Yvette Cooper has called on the NHS in England to urgently speed up plans to end corridor care for children, following the death of two-year-old Finlay Roberts after he spent hours in an A&E corridor before being discharged in 2024. The government says new children’s emergency care standards and age-specific monitoring will accompany the effort, but no deadline for ending the practice has been confirmed.
Cooper told the BBC on Sunday that the NHS would be asked to draw up urgent plans to accelerate action. She said updated standards would be introduced for emergency care involving children. For the first time, the NHS is also expected to record corridor care figures by patient age, which could give officials a clearer count of how many children are affected. The report does not provide a timetable for the standards or the new data collection.
The government has allocated £140 million to support 14 urgent care improvement schemes across England as the NHS prepares for winter. The projects are expected to include new urgent care centres, ambulance fleets and emergency department upgrades. The funding is part of the wider response to pressure on urgent and emergency services; it has not been described as a dedicated fund solely for preventing children from being treated in corridors.
Finlay’s parents, David and Liz Roberts, said he spent hours in a corridor at a north London hospital before he was discharged. His father told the BBC the family had first been moved into a room with a bed and then returned to the corridor. Finlay died in 2024. Whittington Health NHS Trust, where he received care, offered condolences and acknowledged that exceptional demand sometimes led to patients being treated in temporary clinical areas, including corridors.
How Corridor Care Affects Children
The announcement addresses concerns about the conditions in which children receive emergency care when hospitals are overcrowded. Corridors are not designed as clinical treatment spaces, and families may have limited privacy and access to appropriate facilities while waiting. Finlay’s experience has brought renewed attention to the risks and indignities families say can accompany care outside designated treatment areas.
Age-specific monitoring could help the NHS and government identify how often children are affected, rather than relying on overall figures that do not distinguish age groups. But standards, monitoring and investment do not by themselves establish when a child will be guaranteed a dedicated space. The practical effect will depend on how plans are implemented and whether hospitals have enough capacity and staff to meet demand.
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Finlay Roberts’ Hospital Visit
Finlay’s death and the circumstances of his hospital visit were described by his parents in reporting by the BBC and MadeForMums. His father David said the boy “just clung to me, as we now know, slowly dying.” His mother Liz recalled being asked to give him a suppository while they were in the corridor, a situation that raised concerns for the family about privacy and dignity. These are the parents’ accounts; the supplied report does not set out a full clinical review or the findings of any investigation into the care provided.
Cooper apologised to Finlay’s parents on behalf of the NHS, saying: “No child should be treated in a corridor. No patient should be treated in a corridor.” The government has already committed to ending corridor care for all patients by the end of the current parliament. The new announcement makes children a priority within that wider commitment, without giving a separate completion date.
The report cites NHS figures showing that almost 7.3 million people attended A&E in England between June and August 2026, the highest recorded total for a summer period. It says seasonal illnesses, including flu and norovirus, are expected to add pressure during winter. The Royal College of Nursing in England welcomed the investment, while its executive director Patricia Marquis cautioned that funding alone would not resolve wider system pressures.
““No child should be treated in a corridor. No patient should be treated in a corridor.””
— Yvette Cooper, Health Secretary
Deadlines and Delivery Remain Unclear
The government has not announced when corridor care for children will end, when the new standards will take effect, or how quickly NHS organisations must produce their plans. The supplied report also does not detail the proposed standards, how compliance will be assessed, or when age-disaggregated corridor care data will first be published.
It is also unclear how the £140 million will be divided among the 14 schemes and how much of the funded work will directly reduce corridor treatment for children. The report does not provide a full clinical review of Finlay’s case or establish whether his time in the corridor caused or contributed to his death. Cooper’s announcement is a policy commitment, not evidence that the practice has already ended or that every hospital can immediately provide a dedicated space.
NHS Plans Ahead of Winter
NHS leaders are being asked to draw up urgent plans to accelerate the end of corridor care for children, while the government prepares to introduce updated children’s emergency care standards and age-based monitoring. The report does not give dates for publication of those plans or for the first figures. The 14 funded improvement schemes are also expected to support urgent care services as winter approaches.
Until the changes are in place, families may still face crowded emergency departments and long waits, particularly during periods of high demand. The government’s stated longer-term commitment is to end corridor care for all patients by the end of the current parliament, but the route and timetable for meeting that pledge remain to be set out.
Key Questions
What has the Health Secretary asked the NHS to do?
Yvette Cooper has asked NHS leaders in England to draw up urgent plans to speed up an end to corridor care for children. The government also says new children’s emergency care standards will be introduced.
Who was Finlay Roberts?
Finlay Roberts was a two-year-old who died in 2024 after spending hours in an A&E corridor at a north London hospital before being discharged. His parents, David and Liz, have described their experience to the BBC.
When will corridor care for children end?
No specific end date has been announced for corridor care for children. The government has a wider commitment to end corridor care for all patients by the end of the current parliament, but details of the timetable for children are not yet available.
What is the £140 million NHS funding for?
The funding will support 14 urgent care improvement schemes across England. Projects are expected to include urgent care centres, ambulance fleets and emergency department upgrades. The supplied report does not say how much will go to each scheme.
Will the NHS start reporting how many children receive corridor care?
The NHS is expected to collect corridor care figures by patient age for the first time. The report does not give a start date or say when the first age-specific figures will be released.
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