The party said the worst hit areas had seen a six-fold increase in 12-hour waits and urged the Government to announce a new ring-fenced fund to end winter crises in the NHS in next week's Budget.

Deputy leader and Treasury spokesperson, Daisy Cooper MP, said: ‘The Government must take urgent action to break the cycle of the annual winter crisis and that starts by making the NHS and social care their top priorities in the Budget. We need to see urgent action to winterproof the NHS, alongside reforms to shore up social care, so our health and care services no longer lurch from crisis to crisis.'

House of Commons Library research commissioned by the Liberal Democrats shows there were 1.1m 12-hour A&E waits between February and September this year,  up 181,000, or 20%, from 913,000 in the same period in 2023.

One in 10 A&E attendances in England this year have seen a wait of 12 hours or more.

Blackpool Teaching Hospitals saw more than a quarter of A&E attendances this year experiencing a wait of 12 hours or more, higher than anywhere else in the country. Elsewhere, Royal Berkshire Foundation Trust saw a six-fold increase in the number of 12 hour waits, the largest annual increase.

A Department for Health and Social Care spokesperson said: ‘The NHS is broken and this will be another difficult winter for the health service.

‘We are doing all we can to protect patients, including resolving the resident doctors dispute, so the NHS doesn't have staff out on strike for the first winter in three years, and we are also running the annual winter vaccination campaign, including offering RSV vaccines to vulnerable groups for the first time."

‘While we take immediate action to keep patients safe this winter, we are also making fundamental reforms through our 10 Year Health Plan, so the NHS can be there for us when we need it, all year round.'

Deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, Saffron Cordery said emergency department admissions were up by 1.2m on pre-pandemic levels, adding: ‘The knock-on effect of rising patient demand and constrained capacity is being felt across the health and care system with long waits for patients not just in emergency departments but across mental health, community and ambulance services, too.

‘With the Budget just a week away, trusts are hoping this year's settlement will help them address the financial and operational challenges they face. Work also needs to start on rethinking rules on capital investment in the NHS so trusts can tackle the near-£14bn maintenance backlog, give patients safe surroundings and boost productivity.'