Vital Signs: A&E & ambulance response

Briefing · Parliament

MPs and peers argue over 12-hour A&E waits, corridor care and ambulance handovers as Ministers cite new funding

1. 01In the Commons Health Bill debate on 8 September, Health Minister Karin Smyth called corridor care a visible and distressing symptom of systemic pressure and listed action on patient flow, discharge and investment. Contributions in the same debate, with the speaker's name not recorded in the supplied text, cited more than 300,000 waits of 12 hours or more in June and July and proposed new clause 140 to end corridor care within a year.
2. 02Dr Caroline Johnson (Conservative) told the Health Bill debate on 7 September that 12-hour waits after a decision to admit were 29% higher in July 2026 than in July 2024. On 20 October, in the Continuity of Care debate, she said prolonged stays after a decision to admit had risen by over a third since the general election and asked the Government why.
3. 03Yvette Cooper (Labour) cited £450 million for urgent and emergency care in the Summer Health and Resilience statement on 9 September, and £140 million for urgent treatment centres and same-day emergency services in Topical Questions on 20 October. She linked a summer rise in A&E pressure to extreme heat. Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat) answered in the 9 September debate that spending is rising while outcomes fall, and set out a Liberal Democrat plan to end 12-hour waits through step-down care and social care.
4. 04In the Lords Corridor Care questions on 20 October, Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench) raised equipment shortages for patients in corridors, and Baroness Watkins of Tavistock (Crossbench) asked about staff morale and care home beds. Baroness Merron (Labour) pointed to about £2 billion for urgent care and to model emergency department and discharge pathways. Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat) linked hospital beds occupied by medically fit patients to pressure on emergency departments in the National Care Service debate.
5. 05Local cases came up in several debates. Dr Allison Gardner (Labour) described ambulance handover delays at Royal Stoke on 14 October, and Smyth replied that this was not a failure of oversight. Mark Francois (Conservative) asked for an urgent debate on Basildon hospital on 22 October, and James Wild (Conservative) raised plans affecting A&E at the Queen Elizabeth hospital in King's Lynn on 20 October.