More than 150,000 patients had to wait a day in A&E before getting a hospital bed last year, according to new data.
Freedom of information data compiled by the Liberal Democrats from 73 hospital trusts – about half the total – found that the number of patients forced to wait more than 24 hours in A&E before a bed could be found for them has increased by tenfold since 2019. The majority of those forced to wait were elderly or frail, with two-thirds of the patients over the age of 65.
