Who are the ‘abandoned children’ waiting weeks in emergency departments?

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By Daniel Pye

Two young people who fell through the cracks of the care system recently ended up waiting weeks in an emergency department in Romford, east London.

But this is just an egregious example of a trend that happens across the country, medical colleges have told Doctors.net.uk.

It has even led emergency doctors to coin the term the “abandoned child”. Why are vulnerable children spending so long in EDs - and what is being done to improve their care?

What do we know about the two young people stuck in a Romford ED?

One of the children spent more than 70 days and the other just over 30 days in the ED at Queen’s Hospital in Romford, east London. They could not be moved onto the children’s ward due to their behavioural and mental health conditions.

Matthew Trainer, chief executive of Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Queen’s Hospital, said that while the two young people experienced “the longest waits we’ve seen”, it is not unprecedented that young people have had to wait for the right support in ED at the hospital.