Lib Dems set out plan to end 12-hour A&E waits

"There were an estimated 16,644 excess deaths associated with long A&E waits before admission in England in 2024, according to analysis by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine. Sir Ed said: "This deadly corridor crisis isn't befitting of the heroic doctors, nurses and other health professionals who work in our NHS. "It's not what we expect from our NHS, and it's not what we pay our hard-earned money in taxes to fund our NHS for.""

"The Lib Dems say their plan would be funded by scrapping a UK-US pharmaceuticals deal, which could see the NHS pay billions more for drugs. The Department of Health and Social Care said the government had invested an extra 26bn in the NHS and argued it would "take time to turn around the mess we inherited". The number of patients waiting more than 12 hours for admission to A&E has increased substantially since the pandemic in 2021."

"The Lib Dems say they will raise 1.5bn from cancelling the planned medicines deal the UK government agreed with President Donald Trump's US administration last year. The agreement keeps American imports of UK medicines tariff-free for three years in return for the NHS raising its threshold for spending on new treatments by 25%. In December, the Financial Times reported the Department of Health and Social Care estimates the deal will see medicines spending rise by 1.5bn over the next three years."

Liberal Democrats proposed a 1.5bn plan to give patients in England a legal right to be seen in A&E within 12 hours to end a "deadly corridor crisis". Sir Ed Davey called for a new legal duty to limit waits to be admitted, transferred or discharged after arriving in A&E. The plan would be funded by cancelling a UK-US pharmaceuticals deal that could raise NHS drug costs. The Department of Health and Social Care said the government invested an extra 26bn and that improvements will take time. November NHS figures show 50,648 people waited more than 12 hours after a decision to admit. The Royal College of Emergency Medicine estimated 16,644 excess deaths linked to long waits in 2024. The medicines deal keeps American imports tariff-free for three years while the NHS raises its threshold for new treatments by 25%, and the department estimates medicines spending will rise by 1.5bn over the next three years.

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