Jonathan Ashworth MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Health, responding to NHS England’s combined performance summary for August 2016, said:

“The figures expose the Tories’ record of failure on the NHS.

“On Jeremy Hunt’s watch hospitals are now bursting at the seams with thousands of people waiting hours in overcrowded A&E departments and on hospital trolleys.

“These pressures are a direct consequence of the decisions Jeremy Hunt has taken. This government’s cuts to social care over the last six years have left councils struggling to provide basic support for older people in the community and the growing crisis in general practice is forcing many people to travel to A&E because they can’t get an appointment with their family doctor.”

On delayed discharges reaching a new record high, Jonathan Ashworth said:

“The deterioration of social care under the Tories has been allowed to go on for far too long.

“Cuts to social care are not just a false economy, but they are now having a tragic human cost with thousands of older people stuck in hospital because it is unsafe to send them home.

“Ministers need to start heeding the warning signs and taking action to repair the damage they have done.”