Heidi Alexander MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, responding to NHS England’s combined performance summary for February 2016 showing the worst A&E performance on record, said:

“These figures show an NHS on its knees and in crisis.

“Under David Cameron we’re heading back to the bad old days of patients waiting hours on end in overcrowded A&E departments or stuck on trolleys because no beds are available.

“The pressures in hospitals are a direct consequence of decisions this Tory Government has taken. Cuts to social care have left too many older people without the support they need to remain independent at home, and it has got harder and harder to see a GP – leaving many people with no choice but to go to A&E.

“Ministers need to accept that their policies are failing patients and failing the NHS.”