Jamie Reed MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Minister, responding to worsening A&E performance figures from NHS England and Monitor’s Q3 report on deteriorating A&E, cancer and operation waiting times, said:

“People will be worried to see A&E getting worse again despite all the focus on it and too many patients are still being exposed to too much risk.

“Today’s reports paint a clear picture of an NHS heading downhill under this Government. David Cameron is failing to get a grip on the Tory A&E crisis and the pressure he’s created in England’s hospitals.

“In 2014, a record twenty thousand people diagnosed with cancer waited too long for treatment to start and operation waiting lists for all patients hit a seven-year high.

“David Cameron caused the A&E crisis by taking social care support away from hundreds of thousands of vulnerable older people while his reckless NHS reorganisation is still disrupting cancer care. He should now back Labour’s five-point plan for A&E and match our plans to invest an extra £2.5 billion each year to give the NHS the staff it desperately needs.”