TIM Farron has called on the Government ‘to take action’ in their handling of the NHS crisis after new statistics on waiting times were revealed.

Research conducted by the Liberal Democrats uncovered that 21% of patients in Morecambe Bay and 15% of patients in North Cumbria waited over two weeks for a GP appointment in May 2023.

At its worst, almost 30,000 people (22%) of patients in Morecambe Bay were waiting over two weeks for their first appointment in April of this year.

This comes as the party have called on Health Secretary, Steve Barclay, to back their ‘GP rescue plan’ which would guarantee everyone a GP appointment within one week.

Mr Farron said: “We desperately need to solve this crisis within our NHS and particularly when it comes to waiting tomes for GP appointments.

“The Conservatives must start to take action and solve this patient backlog rather than burying their heads in the sand.”