43,000 people in Mid Cheshire waited more than four hours in A&E last year

– There has been a 96.6% rise in patients in Mid Cheshire Foundation Trust waiting more than four hours in A&E since 2019

– In Mid Cheshire, 43.442 people waited over four hours in 2023

– Nationally, nearly 3 million more people waited over four hours in A&E compared with 2019

Cheshire’s Liberal Democrats are calling on the government to reverse its £4.7 billion of real-terms cuts to NHS funding over this year and next

The number of patients waiting more than four hours in Leighton Hospital’s A&E has risen by 96% compared with four years ago, Liberal Democrat analysis of House of Commons Library research reveals.

The data showed that across Mid Cheshire, 43,442 people waited over four hours in 2023, 21,342 more than in 2019, a 96.6% increase.

The data also revealed that the number of patients who waited over 12 hours to be seen in Leighton Hospital’s A&E rose from ZERO in 2019 to 4,896 in 2023. 

In England as a whole, there were nearly 6.5 million waits of over four hours in 2023, up nearly 3 million since 2019. This comes as Liberal Democrat research revealed that the NHS budget is facing a £4.7 billion cut this year when inflation is taken into account. 

Conditions can worsen significantly for patients who are not promptly seen, and the Royal College of Emergency Medicine has previously estimated that there were 23,003 excess patient deaths in England in 2022 associated with long waits.

The Liberal Democrats are calling on the government to reverse its near £5 billion of real terms cuts to NHS funding over this year and next, and invest more in local health services including A&E. 

Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Mid Cheshire, Jack Price-Harbach, said: 

“Every year A&E delays keep getting worse under this Conservative government as hospitals in & very close to my constituency are starved of the funding they need.”

“These appalling delays are leaving often vulnerable and elderly patients from my constituency waiting for hours on end in overcrowded A&Es.”

It is simply unthinkable that Rishi Sunak is now choosing to slash funding for the NHS further, while appalling figures like this are emerging. This will just pour petrol on the flames of the NHS crisis.

“The people of Northwich, Middlewich and Winsford deserve so much better than this Conservative government that is ignoring the suffering of patients and driving our health service into the ground. Every vote for the Liberal Democrats is a vote to fix the NHS and ensure people can access the care they need.”