More than 112,000 patients were left waiting over 24 hours in A&E last year across dozens of NHS hospital trusts, new figures have shown.
The data for 2025, covering two-thirds of NHS trusts in England – 47 in total – suggests the average trust recorded nearly 3,000 patients waiting more than a full day in emergency departments before being admitted to a ward.
The analysis, based on Freedom of Information requests by the Liberal Democrat party, shows that in some cases A&E waits stretched far beyond a single day.
At Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, the longest recorded wait from arrival to admission was 23,100 minutes – 385 hours, or 16 days.
Across the trusts that responded:
- More than half recorded waits exceeding three days.
- Around 15 per cent recorded waits of more than five days and nights.
- A third saw 24-hour waits rise by more than 200 compared to 2024.
- Nearly one in ten recorded increases of more than 1,000 cases.
More than half of the trusts that responded recorded at least one wait exceeding three days
|
PA
Several trusts recorded individual waits lasting multiple days in 2025, including 164 hours – more than eight days, almost seven days, just over six and just over five days.
The longest patient wait was the 16-day wait in Surrey and Sussex.
Experts were alarmed at the news. Emergency departments are designed for rapid assessment and stabilisation – not for holding patients for days at a time.
When wards are full, patients assessed in A&E can face extended waits for admission, leading to overcrowding and potentially risky corridor care.
The NHS operational standard in England states 95 per cent of patients should be admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours of arriving at A&E. That standard has not been met nationally since 2013-14.
Separate national NHS data shows that very long waits after a decision to admit – sometimes referred to as “trolley waits” – have also risen sharply since the pandemic, compared with the mid-2010s.
The longest patient wait was the 16-day wait in Surrey and Sussex
|
PA
However, the Liberal Democrat FOI figures use a different measure – from arrival in A&E to admission – meaning the totals are not directly comparable with national “decision to admit” statistics.
Liberal Democrat Health spokeswoman Helen Morgan MP said: “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 its head 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.
“No Government should tolerate this disaster, and ministers should be held accountable if they continue to fail in their duty to protect patients.”
Last month, Ms Morgan tabled a Bill that would enshrine in law a right for patients to be admitted from A&E within 12 hours.
Her party has also proposed a £1.5billion package aimed at reducing long waits, including making 6,000 additional beds available through greater social care investment and recruiting 8,000 extra GPs.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Nobody should have to wait this long in A&E.
“That’s why we started preparing for winter earlier than ever before – boosting capacity, supporting staff, and strengthening urgent and emergency care services.
“As a result, A&E treatment times have been faster this winter for the majority of people – even as staff faced record demand – but we know there is more to do to cut the longest waits.
“A&E waiting times have been worsening since the Coalition government. We have begun to turn the tide, but there’s a long way to go.”
