ENDING corridor care in hospitals forms part of planning for the upcoming winter, say Aneurin Bevan University Health Board chiefs

Welsh health boards were instructed in July to draw up plans for the coming winter to cope with a spike in demand and to work with councils to manage the discharge of elderly patients from hospital.

Gwent’s Aneurin Bevan board, whose area includes Monmouthshire, has said no additional funding is expected from the Welsh Government, meaning any costs above the £1 million allocated for winter pressures are considered a financial risk to the cash-strapped board.

Members of the board, which runs the Grange University Hospital in Cwmbran, Abergavenny’s Nevill Hall and the Royal Gwent in Newport along with smaller facilities like Monmouth’s Monnow Vale and Chepstow Community Hospital, were updated on the planning at their September meeting.

A report stated the board was required to complete a template as part of its planning with the aim it will deliver: “Safer and more resilient urgent and emergency care through prevention, reduced escalation, elimination of corridor care, improved flow and a stronger integrated community response.”

Along with ending the treatment of patients in non-clinical areas like corriders, the board is required to improve how it moves – or flows – patients through hospital from admission to finding them a bed on a ward and working closer with local councils to discharge them.

Planning also considers work with the ambulance service, care homes, palliative and end of life care and some voluntary and third sector bodies that work in the community.

Director of planning Hannah Evans said it had reviewed performance against last year’s winter plan as part of its preparations while it is still waiting for modelling on when it can expect increased demand and surge in respiratory illness from Public Health Wales.

She said while respiratory illness was lower than expected last year that was “more than offset” by a rise in attendance that was 10.5 per cent higher than the previous winter, and the board had to declare a “critical incident” in early January as it struggled to cope.

Respiratory admissions rose from around 15 per day in September 2025 to a peak of 30 to 32 in late December before declining rapidly through January and returning towards baseline levels by March.

Planning for a “moderate” scenario anticipated a peak of around 40 admissions per day. The “severe” scenario was a peak of 55 to 56 admissions per day.

Actual respiratory occupancy peaked at approximately 310 to 320 beds during January, compared with around 350 to 360 beds in the moderate scenario and approximately 460 beds in the severe scenario.

Actual occupancy of hospital beds for all conditions and not limited to respiratory illness peaked at approximately 1,230 beds in January and generally fluctuated between around 1,130 and 1,150 beds during the winter.

Due to the demand for beds the board opened additional capacity with 20 beds at Chepstow Hospital and 10 at the Royal Gwent and also used Ty Glas y Dorlan in Cwmbran a council facility with flats for respite and reablement.