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/)