Streeting warns of ‘challenging winter’ for NHS and condemns use of cafe as ward

Wes Streeting warned there is a “challenging winter” ahead for the NHS, as he condemned the use of a hospital coffee shop as an emergency ward.

Patients at William Harvey Hospital in Ashford were treated in beds which had been moved to a cafe to cope with rising demand.

East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust has apologised, saying this “will not be allowed to happen again”.

The Health Secretary told the Commons the NHS is “already running hot ahead of winter”, but the Government is “not complacent about that”.

It comes as a new survey reveals almost three in five doctors cared for patients in temporary spaces like hospital corridors, offices and cupboards this summer.

A poll by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) suggests corridor care “has sadly become an everyday reality” for medics and is not confined to winter.

The RCP snapshot survey of 553 doctors found 59% had reported caring for patients in temporary spaces between June and August.

Speaking in the Commons, Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Helen Morgan pressed for measures to “ensure that patients aren’t left to suffer on trolleys, or worse in our hospital corridors this winter”.

Mr Streeting replied: “The NHS is already running hot ahead of winter, we brought forward our winter planning for this year to get ahead, we are making sure all NHS Trusts and systems have developed plans which have been tested regionally.

“The flu vaccination programme is well under way, the autumn Covid-19 vaccination began on the 1st of October, and we’re driving improvements in urgent and emergency care.

“This will be a challenging winter. We’re not complacent about that, but we’re getting the system ready for it.”

Mr Streeting later said it was “completely appalling for coffee shops to be commandeered as bases for the care of patients”, after Labour MP for Ashford, Sojan Joseph, raised the case of the William Harvey Hospital in his constituency.

Mr Joseph said: “Will the Secretary of State come to visit the hospital to see the continuing issues with corridor care?

“And will he update the House on what the Government is doing to ensure that William Harvey is able to manage winter pressure and maintain safe, quality care?”

Mr Streeting replied: “We won’t accept this. I am happy to look at the case he mentioned, but moreover, we will be publishing figures on corridor care so that we can hold the system to account and the public can hold us to account to improve the situation that we inherited.”

Chief executive of East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust Tracey Fletcher said care in the coffee area took place on “one day for a short period of time due to significant demand for emergency services”.

She added: “Despite the area being screened off to maintain the privacy of patients, we know that this is unacceptable and we are very sorry to patients who have been cared for in this way. This will not be allowed to happen again.

“We are working hard to reduce the time patients wait in our emergency department and are investing £16.2 million to improve and expand the same day emergency care unit and ensure that our patients receive the care and experience they deserve.”

Ms Fletcher also said: “Our priority is to see all our patients as quickly and safely as possible in our emergency department.

“Despite the hard work of our staff, it is sometimes necessary to care for some of our patients in the department’s corridor. We are working hard to stop this.”

Elsewhere in health questions, Mr Streeting pledged to do “whatever it takes” to improve maternity and neonatal services in England.

The minister announced an inquiry into the Leeds Teaching Hospitals (LTH) NHS Trust earlier this week, after a BBC investigation revealed the deaths of at least 56 babies and two mothers over the past five years may have been prevented.

The parents said they felt gaslit, dismissed and even blamed for what went wrong at LTH NHS Trust.

A national investigation into maternity care in England, led by Baroness Amos, is also due to report back in December.

Responding to a question from Labour MP Samantha Niblett (South Derbyshire), Mr Streeting said: “I’m deeply concerned by the state of maternity care we inherited in the NHS.

“That’s why I’ve asked Baroness Amos to chair an independent investigation into NHS maternity and neonatal services. Families deserve truth and justice.

“There must be accountability for failings, and services must improve. I’m committing to doing whatever it takes to provide patients and babies with safe, comfortable and dignified care.”

He told the Commons he was working with Leeds families to agree the terms of reference for the investigation there.