Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the number and proportion of patients waiting 12 hours or more in Emergency Departments in England; and how Blackpool Victoria Hospital compares with the national average.

The Government recognises that urgent and emergency care performance has fallen short in recent years. We are committed to restoring accident and emergency waiting times to the NHS Constitutional standard.

Our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26 sets out clear actions to deliver improvements and make services better every day. The plan commits to reducing the number of patients waiting over 12 hours for admission or discharge to less than 10% of the time. This is supported by almost £450 million of capital investment for Same Day Emergency Care, Mental Health Crisis Assessment Centres, and new ambulances, avoiding unnecessary admissions to hospital and supporting the faster diagnosis, treatment, and discharge for patients.

The table attached sets out the proportions of patients waiting over 12 hours for admission or discharged for England and the Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, of which Blackpool Victoria Hospital is the only type 1 accident and emergency provider.