National Emergency: Lib Dem Reveal 112,000 Patients Left Waiting Over 24 Hours in A&E.

New figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats have laid bare the catastrophic state of our NHS, revealing that 112,000 patients waited more than 24 hours in A&E departments across just 47 hospital trusts in 2025.

​The data, uncovered through a series of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, shows a health service pushed beyond the brink. On average, a single hospital trust now sees nearly 3,000 patients enduring waits of over a day every year. Most shockingly, the crisis has seen some patients waiting over a week for admission; in one extreme case at the Surrey and Sussex Healthcare Trust, a patient was left waiting for more than 16 days and nights.

​A Devastating Postcode Lottery
​The findings highlight a deepening "postcode lottery" of care. While the crisis is national, the decline in certain areas is staggering:
​50% of trusts saw an increase in 24-hour waits last year.

​Frimley and Wolverhampton recorded massive surges, with 24-hour waits increasing by 2,469 and 2,586 patients respectively.
​Over half of all trusts have recorded waits of three days or longer.

​Liberal Democrat Health Spokesperson Helen Morgan MP has slammed the figures as a "national emergency," noting that despite the change in government, the trajectory of the NHS continues to plummet.

​"Hundreds of thousands of patients are waiting agonisingly long hours in A&E for the care they need. It’s completely disgraceful, and this Government should hang their heads in shame. Enough is enough. This is a national emergency, yet Labour ministers have allowed the crisis to get even worse. It cannot be ignored any longer; to do so would be far too dangerous." Helen Morgan MP.

​The Lib Dem Plan: Accountability and Investment
​The Liberal Democrats are demanding a fundamental shift in how the NHS is managed. Helen Morgan MP recently tabled a bill to enshrine a legal right for patients to be admitted to A&E within 12 hours, creating a statutory duty for ministers to deliver.

​To fix the "broken front door" of the NHS, the party has set out a £1.5bn emergency plan to end corridor care and long waits within a year. The strategy focuses on:

​Social Care Reform: Freeing up 6,000 hospital beds by investing in social care and supporting carers, allowing "bed-blocked" patients to be safely discharged.
​Primary Care Surge: Securing 8,000 extra GPs to ensure every patient can see a doctor within a week (or 24 hours for urgent cases), preventing desperate patients from flooding A&E.
​Ministerial Accountability: Ending the culture of negligence by making the 12-hour target a legal requirement.

​"No government should tolerate this. Ministers should be held accountable if they continue to fail in their duty to protect patients." Helen Morgan MP 

​The Liberal Democrats argue that without this structural investment in social care and primary health, the "revolving door" of A&E crises will only continue to spin faster.

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