Watford General Hospital A&E: 160 patients waited over a day

Figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats show that 160 patients endured the wait compared to just nine suffering the same delays in 2019.

The data shows that over a quarter of those affected were elderly, as 46 patients were aged 65 or older, up from just one person four years prior.

Ian Stotesbury, Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Watford, said "we are all being let down by a lack of investment” in the NHS and that the party had been calling for a new hospital in Watford “for years”.

He added: “It can't go on like this, we need real investment to care for patients and to support our NHS staff. We need a government that invests in our NHS and invests in social care. 

Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate Ian Stotesbury at Watford General Hospital. (Image: Cllr Ian Stotesbury)“Across the country there are hundreds of avoidable deaths happening every week because we are failing to invest in front line services. We need a general election and a urgent change of direction."

Watford's Conservative MP Dean Russell said recent data showed waiting times had improved, including that the trust had reached an “impressive” 78.6 per cent of patients seen within four hours in March, beating the 76 per cent target.

He added that the hospital had streamlined “patient flow” and “assessment processes”, reducing the number of patients in A&E and improving ambulance handover times.

Watford MP Dean Russell said that Watford General staff had worked tirelessly to ensure patients are seen within four hours. (Image: Dean Russell MP)“Watford General staff have worked tirelessly to ensure that patients receive the necessary diagnostic test or are seen by the appropriate specialty medic within the four-hour target,” the MP said.

The MP said that the £500 million Adult Social Care Discharge Fund would further reduce the backlog and that £200 million has been allocated to buy hospital beds in the community to free up space within hospitals for A&E admissions.

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Labour parliamentary candidate Matt Turmaine said the waiting times were “truly shocking” and that he wanted to help make the NHS "fit for the future once again".

Labour candidate Matt Turmaine said the figures were truly shocking and things have got to change. “Under the last Labour government, patient satisfaction was at its highest," he added. "Under the Tories it is at its lowest. Things have got to change. While the Tories trash our NHS, Labour will fix it and get it off its knees."

A West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust spokesperson said: “We are sorry when any patient experiences delay to their treatment and continue to work hard to ensure people are seen as quickly as possible.

"The patients waiting 24 hours from arrival to admission would have received care in the form of assessments, diagnostics and further specialty reviews before a decision was made to admit."

They added that the trust's performance was improving despite the fact that the number of people accessing the trust's emergency care service had risen by over 40,000 from 150,000 in 2018/19 to over 190,000 in the 2023/24 financial year.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said it was “committed” to giving people the emergency care they need and that the £1 billion Urgent Care Recovery Plan had added 5,000 hospital beds and 10,000 hospital at home wards for people to be treated at home.