Emergency Care Overhaul Aimed at Ending Corridor Treatment
Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust has introduced measures to reduce corridor care and speed up emergency admissions across its hospital network. A zero-corridor pilot has begun at King George Hospital and a dedicated frailty unit has gained capacity. Planning is also under way for a £42 million redevelopment of the Emergency Department at Queen's Hospital. Separately, the Trust has recorded its highest trainee doctor satisfaction in six years.
The pilot, named Hard Stop, aims to end the treatment of patients in hospital corridors entirely. Corridor care typically follows overcrowding in emergency departments, when patients are assessed or treated on trolleys outside designated bays. The Trust treats it as a whole-system operational challenge that extends beyond the emergency department. The approach has attracted national attention from NHS improvement leaders. Its effect on waiting times will become clearer as the pilot progresses.
Alongside the pilot, the Trust has expanded its Frailty Same Day Emergency Care unit, known as SDEC. The unit takes vulnerable, elderly patients directly from Accident and Emergency so that they can be assessed without a prolonged stay in a crowded department. Around 35% of patients seen by the team would otherwise have stayed in A&E. They spend an average of seven hours in the unit, receiving care from a multidisciplinary team before either returning home or moving into community care. For older patients living with frailty, prolonged waits can increase the risk of deterioration, making rapid access to specialist assessment particularly valuable.
The Trust is also preparing a £42 million redevelopment of the A&E department at Queen’s Hospital, with the aim of improving patient flow and expanding emergency capacity. The design of the department can affect how efficiently patients move from triage to treatment, while a larger and more modern layout can give the hospital greater flexibility when demand rises.
The initiatives target different stages of the emergency care pathway. The frailty unit aims to reduce the number of older patients waiting in A&E, while Hard Stop establishes a clear limit on where patients can be treated once hospital capacity is reached. The Queen’s redevelopment takes a longer-term approach by addressing the physical infrastructure. The measures come as the NHS heads into winter, a period when emergency departments generally face increased pressure.
The Trust's training results have also improved. In the General Medical Council's National Training Survey 2026, trainee doctor satisfaction across emergency medicine, geriatrics and internal medicine reached 75.64%, the highest figure the Trust has recorded in six years. The result earned the Trust a place on a shortlist drawn up by NHS London's Education Quality team, which recognised sustained improvement and consistent performance in medical training between 2023 and 2026. Hospitals closely monitor trainee satisfaction, as junior doctors make up a significant part of the workforce supporting emergency and acute care wards.
There has been a change of leadership at the hospitals' charity. Robin Meltzer, a former executive at the Royal Free Charity, has been appointed Chief Executive of the King George & Queen's Hospitals Charity. Meltzer succeeds Barbara Kasumu, who held the post on an interim basis. The charity is attached to the two hospitals at the centre of the Trust's emergency care changes.
