Heidi Alexander MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, responding to the Care Quality Commission’s State of Care report, said:

“Jeremy Hunt cannot keep ignoring these serious warnings about unsafe and understaffed hospitals.

“Under the Tories, nurse numbers haven’t kept pace with demand, and training places have been cut. This has left some hospital wards without enough nurses and has put patient safety at risk.

“With a difficult winter approaching, and hospitals facing financial crisis, the NHS is now in a precarious position.

“The uncomfortable truth for Jeremy Hunt is that under the Conservatives the NHS is going backwards and standards of care are getting worse, not better.”