Andy Burnham MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, responding to NHS England figures on cancelled operations that show performance deteriorating to a 13-year low, said:

“The Tory A&E crisis shows no sign of easing and too many patients continue to suffer poor care as it spreads through the rest of the NHS.

“These are the worst figures for well over a decade and that is another sign of how the NHS has gone downhill. Far too many are now suffering the distress of having operations cancelled at the last minute. Thousands of patients are not having their operations re-fixed within a month as they are entitled to too.

“As the King’s Fund said, patient care has been damaged by a reorganisation that has thrown the NHS off course. David Cameron must personally explain the steps he will take to bring England’s A&Es back up to acceptable standards. He caused this crisis by making it harder to see a GP and taking social care support away from hundreds of thousands of people.

“Without solutions to their own crisis, the Government should implement Labour’s five-point A&E plan without delay. They should match Labour’s commitment to give the NHS an extra £2.5 billion each year, over and above Tory plans, to provide a long-term solution to this crisis and recruit the doctors and nurses it desperately needs.”