Andy Burnham MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, responding to NHS England figures showing A&E performance was the worst for over a decade, said:

“After five years of David Cameron, A&E waits are at their worst level for a decade and patients are finding it harder and harder to see a GP.

“There’s only one person to blame for the A&E crisis and that’s David Cameron. He has made it harder to get a GP appointment, cut council social care budgets and wasted £3 billion on a reorganisation that nobody wanted and nobody voted for.

“If David Cameron gets back in, his extreme spending cuts mean he can’t protect the NHS and the crisis in A&E will get even worse.

“Labour has a better plan for the NHS. We will recruit 20,000 more nurses and 8,000 more GPs, paid for by a mansion tax on homes valued over £2m, and we will guarantee GP appointments within 48 hours.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

• Figures published today,     show that in Quarter 4 2014/15 434,775 waited longer than four hours in a     type A&E (440,961) overall. The figures also show that 113,648 waited     longer than four-hours on trolleys in A&E, and 983 over 12 hours.     These figures are the worst on record since Q1 2004. (A&E     Attendances and Emergency Admissions 2014-15, http://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ae-waiting-times-and-activity/weekly-ae-sitreps-2014-15/)

• The weekly data shows that A&E     performance declined on the previous week. It is now 89 weeks since     hospital A&Es met the target and 26 weeks since all types met the     target. Last year, over 1.4 million people waited longer than fours in     A&E compared to 353,000 in 2009/10.

Type 1 Departments - Major A&E

Type 2 Departments - Single Specialty

Type 3 Departments - Other  A&E/Minor Injury Unit

Total

2009-10

344,772

1,068

7,777

353,617

2010-11

545,805

1,752

9,557

557,114

2011-12

713,289

2,242

9,412

724,943

2012-13

888,577

2,229

10,605

901,411

2013-14

925,319

2,303

11,564

939,186

2014-15

1,397,851

2,803

20,537

1,421,191

(A&E Attendances and Emergency Admissions 2014-15, http://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ae-waiting-times-and-activity/weekly-ae-sitreps-2014-15/)

Number of patients spending >4  from decision to admit to admission

2009-10

61,969

2010-11

93,905

2011-12

108,191

2012-13

152,414

2013-14

167,941

2014-15

304,276

(A&E Attendances and Emergency Admissions 2014-15, http://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ae-waiting-times-and-activity/weekly-ae-sitreps-2014-15/)