Over 37,000 people at Epsom & St Helier waited more than four hours in A&E last year

• There has been a 59.6% rise in patients at Epsom & St Helier waiting more that four hours in A&E since 2019
• At Epsom & St Helier, 37,695 people waited over four hours in 2023
• Nationally, nearly 3 million more people waited over four hours in A&E compared with 2019
• Sutton Liberal Democrats are calling on the government to reverse its £4.7 billion of real-terms cuts to NHS funding over this year and next

The number of patients waiting more than four hours at Epsom & St Helier A&Es has risen by 59.6% compared with four years ago, Liberal Democrat analysis of House of Commons Library research reveals.

The data showed that across the trust, 37,695 people waited over four hours in 2023, 14,074 more than in 2019, a 59.6% increase.

The data also revealed that the number of patients who waited over 12 hours to be seen in A&E at Epsom & St Helier rose from 21 in 2019 to over 5,600 in 2023. 

In England as a whole, there were nearly 6.5 million waits of over four hours in 2023, up nearly 3 million since 2019. This comes as Liberal Democrat research revealed that the NHS budget is facing a £4.7 billion cut this year when inflation is taken into account. 

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.

The Liberal Democrats are calling on the government to reverse 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. 

Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Carshalton and Wallington, Bobby Dean, said: 

“Every year A&E delays keep getting worse under this Conservative government, with over five and a half thousand people waiting more than twelve hours to be seen in A&E across the Epsom & St Helier trust in 2023.

“These appalling delays leave often vulnerable and elderly patients in our area waiting for hours on end in overcrowded A&Es, yet Rishi Sunak is choosing now to further slash NHS funding.

“Sutton deserves so much better than this Conservative government that is ignoring the suffering of patients and driving our health service into the ground. Every vote for the Liberal Democrats is a vote to fix the NHS and ensure people can access the care they need.”