The call from the Liberal Democrats came as they revealed a 71-fold rise in 24-hour trolley waits from 689 in 2019 to 49,000 last year.

Liberal Democrat health and social care spokesperson, Helen Morgan, said: ‘The least patients deserve is the dignity to be treated in an appropriate area. Not the ramshackled waiting rooms and corridors that far too many have to suffer through for hours. That is why the Government must ensure that this is the last winter crisis anyone will experience and end corridor care by the end of this Parliament.'

According to the data, pensioners accounted for almost 70% of 24-hour trolley waits last year (33,000) up from 441 in 2019.

East Kent's NHS trust saw the highest number of day or longer trolley waits last year with 8,900 up from just 30 in 2019

The Lib Dems called for a Winterproofing NHS Taskforce as well as a new team of ‘super-heads' made up of experienced NHS heads who would go into struggling NHS trusts and use their expertise to bring them up to standard.

A spokesperson for East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust said: ‘We have seen increased attendances across our three main hospitals and we are sorry that patients are waiting longer than we would like in our emergency departments.'

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: ‘No patient should have to spend 24 hours in A&E waiting to be admitted to a ward. We are determined to end the annual winter crisis in urgent care and to cut waiting lists for emergency care, but it will take time.

‘We have taken action to protect A&E departments, introducing the new RSV vaccine, delivering more than 27m Covid and flu vaccines and ending the strikes so staff were on the frontline not the picket line for the first winter in three years. This work continues to ensure patients are treated quickly. 

‘We are fundamentally reforming the NHS as part of our Plan for Change, providing more care in the community, so fewer patients have to go to A&E, and those who do are treated faster and with dignity.'