Cllr Carl Cashman calls for an end to 12-hour A&E waits as corridor care crisis worsens under Labour
- NHS data shows 30,170 patients waiting 12 hours in Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust A&E in 2025.
- Liberal Democrats propose a legal guarantee that no one will wait more than 12 hours in A&E, backed by a £1.5bn plan for extra beds and social care.
Liverpool Liberal Democrat Leader Cllr Carl Cashman is calling for a £1.5bn plan to end 12-hour A&E waits within a year. This comes as A&Es across the country are facing rocketing waits for patients in desperate need of care.
The new Liberal Democrat plan would introduce a new law to enshrine the right for patients to be seen in A&E within 12 hours, warning that “18 months of Labour failure” has worsened the NHS crisis left by the Conservatives.
Liberal Democrat analysis of the latest NHS England data shows 2025 is projected to see the worst level of 12-hour trolley-waits in A&E ever recorded. Locally, a shocking 30,170 patients waited 12 hours in Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust A&E in 2025.
The Lib Dem plan would bring to an end 12-hour waits and hospital ‘corridor care’ within a year.
- Making 6,000 extra hospital beds available to end corridor care within a year.
- Investing in 1,000 more staffed hospital beds.
- Extra investment in social care to reserve 1,600 “safety net” social care places each day, for hospitals to discharge into if they need to.
- Extra step-down care - freeing up 1,200 beds a day.
- Making more beds available in care homes and hospitals.
The proposal would be funded by cancelling the planned medicine price hike agreed with the Trump administration before Christmas, which is set to cost the NHS over £3bn a year despite minimal benefits for patients.
The Liverpool Liberal Democrats have continually raised concerns about the NHS in Liverpool, from GP wait times to the dwindling number of NHS dentists in the city. In September 2025, Cllr Carl Cashman warned that “Local health services in Liverpool have entered a state of permacrisis.”
Commenting, Cllr Carl Cashman, Leader of the Liverpool Liberal Democrat MP, said:
“For too long, people in Liverpool have suffered with degrading waits and treatment in hospital corridors. Our NHS staff are working so hard, but have been let down by those in power. It is a national emergency, and it is devastating our NHS - we need a real plan to fix it.
“Liberal Democrats are offering the bold solutions we need to free up our hospitals and end the A&E crisis once and for all. No government should tolerate this disaster, and ministers should be held legally accountable if they continue to fail in their duty to protect patients.”
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Data on localised A&E is here.
The corridor care crisis has pushed hospitals to breaking point, with over 16,000 excess deaths linked to long A&E waits in 2024. Right now, there are 13,000 patients stuck in hospital beds well enough to be discharged but without the care in place for them to leave. Even in the summer months, one in five patients were being treated on trolleys or chairs in A&E corridors, highlighting the ongoing “perma-crisis” in the NHS.
The change in levels of trolley waits - where someone waits more than 12 hours from the decision to admit to admission - is illustrated below
The Liberal Democrats’s proposals would make 6,000 extra hospital beds available to end corridor care through £1.2bn of new investment
- 1,000 more staffed hospital beds.
- Extra investment in social care to reserve 1,600 “safety net” social care places each day, for hospitals to discharge into if they need to.
- Extra intermediate/step down care packages to free up another 1,200 beds a day.
- Free up 2,500 beds through other measures to reduce readmissions and cut the length of hospital stays:
- Expanding the use of the Discharge Medicines Service and High Intensity Use Services, both of which have been proven to reduce readmissions.
- Introducing a Carer Support Service in every hospital, helping to get people home quicker.
- Guaranteeing every hospice can meet local needs, with funding allocated so no patient in need of hospice care is turned away.
To support the package and ensure alternatives to hospitals can be used effectively, the Liberal Democrats would also make an additional £250m available for extra investment in patient transport services, discharge hubs, administrative support including additional ward clerks, and surges of locum staff during discharge bottlenecks where required.
The party have also called for a new law to end 12-hour waits in A&E and corridor care, and a legal duty on ministers to deliver on it.
A new right to admission within 12 hours would be enshrined in the NHS Constitution, which already sets out a number of other patients’ rights. That would place a legal duty on the Government and the NHS to put the policies and resources in place to achieve them.
The plan follows the existing Liberal Democrat campaign and manifesto commitment to rescue GP services and ease the pressure on hospitals with a right to a GP appointment within 7 days, or 24 hours if urgent.
The GP package includes an increase in the number of full-time equivalent GPs by 8,000, half by boosting recruitment and half from retaining more experienced GPs. The party would also introduce 24/7 booking for GP appointments via 111, and a dedicated fund to open surgeries in under-served areas.
