Lib Dems slam worst ever year for corridor care as Streeting abandons country’s health in favour of own ambition

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Lib Dems slam worst ever year for corridor care as Streeting abandons country’s health in favour of own ambition

Ed Davey has said Prime Minister hopeful Wes Streeting’s management of the NHS has been a “walking policy disaster” as latest statistics show the worst ever level of A&E trolley waits in 2026

Shocking new statistics released this morning (Thursday 14th May) have shown that the current Health Secretary Wes Streeting is presiding over the worst year for corridor care on record.

The bombshell data comes as Wes Streeting allies heavily trail the minister’s plans to resign in order to challenge Starmer for the top job.

220,581 A&E patients have had to wait over 12 hours from decision to admit to admission, such as on a corridor or in a plastic chair, so far this year. That number is the worst on record. The equivalent period in 2025 saw 20,000 fewer patients face this ordeal, and is up by nearly 40,000 on the equivalent point in 2024. This means that since Labour took office the numbers facing degrading trolley waits has increased by over 20%.

Ed Davey castigated the statistics and said that a minister with such a “dire track record” should never be allowed near the top job, calling Streeting’s management of the NHS a “walking policy disaster”.

Ed Davey, Liberal Democrat leader, said:

“The devastating A&E statistics this morning prove that Wes Streeting has been too busy measuring the curtains in Number 10 to turn our NHS around.

“This is a dire track record for any minister with plans to take the top job. Labour's management of our NHS has been a walking policy disaster.

“It is a disaster for the country that Labour has fallen to infighting once again while patients wait weeks, months and years for basic healthcare. Liberal Democrats would rescue our health service, fix social care, end the corridor care crisis and introduce a legal right to see your GP in seven days - or twenty-four hours if it’s urgent.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

Data here