Horsham patients 'face over four hour waits at hospital A&E departments'

That’s according to House of Commons Library research by the Liberal Democrats. They say that the data showed that at Horsham’s nearest A&Es, 35,928 people waited over four hours last year – 24,337 more than in 2019, a 210 per cent increase.

The data also revealed that the number of patients who waited over 12 hours to be seen in A&E near Horsham rose from zero in 2019 to 3,633 in 2023.

A Lib Dem spokesperson said: “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.”

Now the Liberal Democrats are calling on the Government to reverse what it says is “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.”

Lib Dem parliamentary candidate for Horsham, John Milne, said: “Every year A&E delays keep getting worse under this Conservative government as

hospitals in our area are starved of the funding they need.

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“These appalling delays are leaving often vulnerable and elderly patients in our area 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.”