• After Jeremy Hunt’s secret plan to double ambulance response times for some seriously ill patients was exposed, Labour reveals the true scale of the Government’s failure on ambulance response times
  
• Every month, over 3,000 of the most critically ill patients have waited over eight minutes for an ambulance to arrive
  
• Latest figures show that nationally, ambulances are failing to respond to some of the most critical patients within 8 minutes – missing the target since May
  
• Jeremy Hunt is trying to shift the goal posts by increasing official waiting times, rather than improving the service in the interests of patients 

Andy Burnham MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary said:

“These figures raise real concerns that lives are being put at risk. For people who’ve suffered cardiac arrest or a stroke, every second counts and that is why this cannot continue.

“People will struggle to understand how, in the middle of this crisis, it makes sense for the Government to make a panic decision to relax 999 standards and leave patients waiting even longer. Jeremy Hunt has refused to answer the serious questions put to him since the weekend.

“David Cameron’s failure to face up to the A&E crisis is having a serious knock-on effect on ambulance services. Ministers are leaving large swathes of the country without adequate ambulance cover - people who have faced an anxious wait for an ambulance will be stunned by their complacency.

"More and more calls are being attended by police cars and even fire engines on David Cameron’s watch. 

"Urgent action is needed from the Government to turn things around. Slower 999 response is yet another sign of an NHS heading in the wrong direction.”