The trust running Queen’s Hospital in Romford has acknowledged that its children’s accident and emergency department is “not always the best place” to care for children with additional needs, as it apologised for a series of poor experiences that have left some families and staff facing profoundly challenging conditions.
Nic Kane, chief nurse at Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (BHRUT), said: “We know our children’s A&E department is not always the best place to care for children with additional needs, and we’re sorry some families have had a poor experience.” She confirmed that the trust will meet with local MP Margaret Mullane and parents to discuss the concerns, and highlighted existing measures such as working with families who require specialist beds and the use of learning disability (LD) passports for frequent attendees.
Prolonged stays and a ‘default place of safety’
The apology comes amid mounting evidence that Queen’s Hospital’s children’s A&E is being used as a default place of safety for children in crisis who have nowhere else to go. Prolonged stays have become a recurring issue, with children with complex needs — including those with mental health conditions, learning disabilities and neurodiversity — waiting in the department for weeks or even months.
In 2024, one child spent 44 days in A&E while awaiting a local authority placement. More recently, reports indicate children spending over 70 days and 68 days in the department because of a lack of suitable specialist care placements, and another young person was said to have remained there for 77 days. In a separate case, a teenage girl was reportedly detained in a windowless room on an A&E ward for nearly two and a half months due to a shortage of appropriate care placements. The trust attributes these extended stays to breakdowns in council-arranged care placements and a national shortage of suitable accommodation for children with complex behavioural needs or neurodiversity.
The situation has placed severe strain on staff, who have experienced physical assaults, and has prompted complaints from other parents visiting the department. The financial impact is also significant: two recent cases involving teenagers in A&E were estimated to have cost the trust over £270,000 in staffing and support costs alone.
Department limitations and historical pressures
BHRUT’s children’s A&E operates within a trust that has faced longstanding challenges. The Care Quality Commission rated “services for children and young people” as “requires improvement” following an inspection in January 2020, a rating that had already been given in March 2017, though an earlier inspection in October 2016 rated the services as “good” with the “safe” domain marked as “requires improvement”. The trust’s “urgent and emergency services” were also rated as “requires improvement” as of the last inspection in December 2023, and the overall trust rating remains “requires improvement”.
BHRUT was placed in special measures in December 2013 due to serious failures in care quality and concerns over management’s ability to improve. Although it has since been taken out of special measures, ongoing issues have persisted. The trust has also faced serious investigations into its maternity services, including multiple baby deaths in late 2024; it has apologised for failures in those cases, and maternity services are now rated “good” by the CQC.
The A&E department at Queen’s Hospital treated more than 750 patients a day in March 2026, and BHRUT is currently campaigning for £42 million in funding to transform the department. The trust has previously been involved in discussions about eliminating “corridor care” in A&E, a practice that has drawn national criticism. A dedicated “safe space” room was opened a year ago to support children in crisis in a more contained environment away from the main A&E, but it can only accommodate one child at a time — highlighting the limitations of current facilities.
Trust’s commitment and next steps
Chief executive Matthew Trainer has been vocal about the challenges, calling for urgent action to improve care pathways for vulnerable children. Deputy chief executive and chief operating officer Fiona Wheeler has also been involved in discussions on the difficulties of providing care for children in A&E.
In addition to the planned meeting with MP Margaret Mullane and families, BHRUT has taken steps to improve service integration. The Redbridge Children’s Community Nursing Service transferred from North East London NHS Foundation Trust to BHRUT on 1 May 2026, aiming for better continuity of care. The trust continues to work with families requiring specialist beds and uses learning disability passports for frequent attendees.
While the safe space room represents a small improvement, the sheer scale of the challenge — children languishing in A&E for weeks, the financial toll of extended stays, and the reliance on a department that is not designed for those with additional needs — underscores the depth of the problem. The trust’s apology and willingness to engage with families mark a recognition of the failings, but the limitations of its own resources remain stark. The safe space room, for instance, can only ever hold one child at a time.