South Devon MP Caroline Voaden 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 6,670 patients waited 12 hours in A&Es covered under Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust in 2025.

The Lib Dem plan claims to end 12-hour waits and hospital “corridor care” within a year by unlocking thousands of extra beds across the system. It would deliver 6,000 additional hospital beds, including 1,000 that are fully staffed, alongside major investment in social care to create 1,600 daily “safety-net” places.

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 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.

Commenting, Voaden said: “It is unforgivable that successive governments have turned a blind eye as corridor care has become normalised across the country. It is a national emergency and devastating and degrading to our NHS, its staff and patients, who all deserve so much more. We need a real plan to fix it, not more of Labour’s managed decline.”