Today new figures reveal that almost 40,000 people waited for more than four hours to be seen at Milton Keynes University Hospital’s A&E last year.
In 2023, 37,249 people were left waiting for more than four hours in the city’s A&E department, a significant increase of almost 130% since 2019.
NHS targets say that the maximum wait time in A&E should be four hours or less, a target has not been met across England since 2015.
In England as a whole, there were nearly 6.5 million waits of over four hours in 2023, this is up nearly 3 million since 2019.
This comes as research from the Liberal Democrats has revealed that the NHS budget is facing nearly £5 billion of real terms cuts this year once inflation is taken into account.
Last year, the Royal College of Emergency Medicine estimated that there were nearly 25,000 patient deaths in England in 2022 associated with long waits.
Local Lib Dem councillors are calling on the Government to reverse its near £5 billion of real terms tax cuts to NHS funding over this year and next, and to invest more money into local health services including A&E.
Responding to the latest figures, Lib Dem Cabinet Member for Public Health, Councillor Jane Carr, said:
“These figures are unacceptable, but they don’t come as a surprise. Vulnerable and elderly patients in our city are being left to suffer waiting hours on end for care they desperately need, all whilst the Government continue to slash funding. Our fantastic NHS doctors, nurses, and staff are working tirelessly around the clock to care for residents, but they can only do so much, the Government’s decision to cut funding is putting local people’s lives at risk.”
Councillor Robin Bradburn, Deputy Leader of Milton Keynes City Council, added:
“Every year A&E delays keep getting worse and worse. It’s shocking that even after alarming figures like these have emerged Rishi Sunak is still cutting the NHS budget further. People are fed up of broken promises and our city deserves better.”
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