Child spent 44 days in A&E waiting for care placement

A child spent more than a month ‘stuck in a room with the lights on’ in an accident and emergency department, a trust has revealed.

The child waited 44 days, while another child spent more than 11 days in the emergency department while waiting for a local authority placement, according to Matthew Trainer, CEO of Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospital. Both had mental health needs and/or learning disabilities.

Mr Trainer said the next longest recent stays in ED were two adult mental health patients, who spent 82 hours and 46 hours waiting for mental health beds.

The trust would not share more information on the cases due to the risk of identifying the patients, but said that the most common reason for long waits for children was that they are under the care of local authorities, often due to conditions related to neurodiversity, and waiting for a suitable care placement/accommodation, rather than an NHS bed.

Lesley Seary, a BHRUT non-executive director, said at the trust’s board meeting last week: “It’s both distressing for [the children] and distressing for the staff. Although in some cases, they see it as a place of safety, which is slightly depressing but good that we are at least seen as a place of safety.

“I just wonder, are our local authority colleagues doing all they can and understanding enough? I appreciate the difficulties they have in finding the right kind of accommodation. 

“We’re probably safer than some other places could be, but it just does not feel right that a young person was stuck in a room in A&E with the lights on all the time because we can’t find an alternative.”

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ, 11 September 2024