Andy Burnham MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, responding to NHS England figures showing hospital A&Es have missed the A&E target for 100 consecutive weeks, said:

“There could be no clearer sign of the Tories’ failure on the NHS than the fact that hospital A&Es have now missed the Government’s own four-hour waiting-time target for 100 weeks in a row.

“David Cameron promised he wouldn’t return to the days when people waited for hours on end to be seen in A&E, and this latest data confirms he has broken that promise.

“The Tories caused this A&E crisis by making it harder to see a GP and stripping back social care services – damaging mistakes that have seen the numbers going into hospital soar and left A&Es overwhelmed.

“Rather than re-announcing GP policies to try to distract from their failure on A&E, David Cameron and Jeremy Hunt should be working to get standards back on track.”