Heidi Alexander MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, in response to monthly performance figures from NHS England, said:

“It is deeply concerning that waiting time targets for cancer patients are being continually missed, it shows just how far the NHS has declined under David Cameron.

“The NHS is under pressure as a direct result of decisions this Government has made. They cut older people’s care in the home and made it harder to see a GP, meaning hospitals have become dangerously full. There is a shortage of nurses, and a reliance on expensive agency staff, with hospitals facing financial crisis.

“As a result too many patients are stuck on a waiting list, suffering anxious and agonising waits.

“However Ministers try to present it, these figures show that Tory NHS policies are failing patients.”