Lewes MP calls for “end to corridor care”: 12 hour waits up by 12250%

Lewes’s Liberal Democrat MP, James MacCleary, has called for an end to corridor care by the conclusion of this Parliament after research by the House of Commons Library, commissioned by the party, found there were 247 trolley waits in East Sussex this winter.

A trolley wait commonly refers to the time a patient spends in A&E following a decision being made to admit them to hospital. The 247 waits of 12 hours or longer was a 12250.00% increase on last winter’s figure of 2, a jump of 245.

It comes following a speech by the Lib Dems Health and Social Care spokesperson at the party’s Spring Conference last month in which she challenged the Labour government to end corridor care by the end of the Parliament.

Lewes’s MP has echoed this call, saying that patients in East Sussex should not have to “suffer through the indignity of corridor care ever again”.

The party has said this could be achieved through a taskforce which would ‘winter proof’ the NHS from future seasonal crises. It would be backed by a £1.5 billion ringfenced fund to ensure that hospitals can prepare for the surge in patients before it happens.

James said: “Over the winter I heard countless harrowing stories of people suffering through endless waits in A&E, with truly horrific consequences.

“We should not accept that this has become the new normal after years of shameful Conservative neglect. We must make sure that no one has to suffer through the indignity of corridor care ever again.

“That is why I am proud to join with my Liberal Democrat colleagues in calling for an end to corridor care.

“It is now down to this Labour government to step up and show the same ambition for patients here in Lewes, Seaford, Newhaven, Polegate, Willingdon, Stone Cross and our local villages . To bury their heads in the sand and carry on as if this is okay would be a complete dereliction of duty.”

The research by the House of Commons Library can be found here.