Is Havering’s Hospital Now Too Small For The Population It Serves?
Queen’s Hospital was built almost 20 years ago to serve a population and level of demand that has since changed considerably. Today, Havering alone has more than 280,000 residents, while neighbouring Barking and Dagenham has another 238,000, and the NHS trust responsible for Queen’s and King George hospitals serves a population of around 800,000. Now, with Queen’s A&E regularly seeing more than twice the number of patients it was designed to handle, questions are being raised about whether the area’s hospital capacity is keeping pace with demand.
Queen’s Hospital opened in 2006 as a major new acute hospital serving communities across east London and Essex.
Almost two decades later, the population and demand placed on its services have changed significantly.
The latest 2025 population estimates put Havering’s population at 280,787.
Neighbouring Barking and Dagenham has a further 238,295 residents, according to the same latest population estimates.
Together, the two boroughs are home to more than 519,000 people.
And Queen’s Hospital does not serve those two boroughs alone.
Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, which operates Queen’s Hospital and King George Hospital, serves a much wider population of approximately 800,000 people.
That raises an important question for the future of healthcare provision in the area.
Is the existing hospital infrastructure sufficient for the population it now serves?
Queen’s was designed for a very different level of A&E demand
The figures from the hospital itself provide an indication of the pressure facing its emergency department.
BHRUT says Queen’s A&E was designed in 2006 to deal with around 325 patients a day.
The Trust now says it regularly sees more than twice that number.
In March 2026, the Trust recorded its busiest month on record, with 31,214 emergency attendances across its hospitals, averaging more than 1,000 emergency attendances a day across Queen’s and King George.
Corridor care has become a major issue
The pressure has not simply resulted in longer queues.
The Trust has acknowledged that patients have at times been cared for in corridors at Queen’s because of the demand on the hospital.
In March 2026, BHRUT said the use of corridors was an “unfortunate” consequence of the growth in urgent and emergency demand, particularly at Queen’s.
The Trust says improvements made during 2026 have significantly reduced the amount of corridor care.
It reported that patients spent around 10,000 fewer hours receiving corridor care at Queen’s during February 2026 compared with the same month the previous year.
That improvement is significant.
But the underlying issue of demand remains.
The NHS is seeking millions to transform Queen’s A&E
BHRUT has been campaigning for funding to transform the emergency department.
The Trust is seeking £42 million to transform the existing A&E at Queen’s.
It says the existing department is overcrowded and was designed for a level of demand that has since been substantially exceeded.
Its current proposal is to significantly transform the existing Queen’s emergency department.
But the scale of the proposed investment raises a wider question about the future of hospital capacity across the area.
Queen’s was designed with 939 beds
When Queen’s Hospital was constructed, it was designed as a substantial acute healthcare facility with 939 beds and more than 4,500 rooms.
The hospital was therefore designed as a substantial regional acute hospital.
But almost 20 years after it opened, the communities around it have changed and emergency demand has increased.
Havering alone now has almost 281,000 residents, while Barking and Dagenham has almost 238,300.
And the wider NHS trust catchment is approximately 800,000 people.
Does Havering need a new hospital?
That is ultimately a question for NHS planners, clinicians, local authorities and the Government rather than something that can be established simply from population figures.
The evidence does, however, provide a clear basis for asking whether the area’s future healthcare infrastructure is adequate.
There are several separate questions that deserve examination.
Should the existing Queen’s Hospital be expanded further?
Is the planned transformation of A&E sufficient to meet future demand?
Will the number of beds and other hospital services keep pace with population growth?
Should more healthcare be provided through community and diagnostic centres to reduce pressure on acute hospitals?
And, looking further ahead, should the Government and NHS consider whether the wider area requires additional acute hospital capacity?
These are questions that become increasingly relevant when an emergency department designed for approximately 325 patients a day is regularly dealing with more than double that level of demand.
A question for Havering’s future
Queen’s Hospital was opened in 2006 to provide modern acute healthcare for a large population.
Twenty years later, the population of Havering has reached almost 281,000 and the neighbouring borough of Barking and Dagenham has a further 238,000 residents.
The wider NHS trust serves around 800,000 people.
At the same time, Queen’s emergency department is dealing with demand substantially beyond the level for which it was originally designed.
The NHS is already seeking £42 million to transform the department.
The question now is whether that investment will be enough to meet the needs of the communities Queen’s is expected to serve over the next 20 years.
For residents in Havering, Barking and Dagenham, the debate is therefore no longer simply about how to improve Queen’s A&E today. It is about whether the area’s hospital infrastructure is being planned for the population of tomorrow.
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stop treating migrants, illegals and foreign medical treatment holiday makers who aren’t UK nationals
It was never big enough, 3 hospitals closed, only one opened. Even if there hadn’t been a population boom, it wasn’t big enough jn the first place.