Jonathan Ashworth MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Health, commenting on NHS England’s Combined Performance data for October, said:

“These shocking figures present a bleak outlook for the coming winter months. Delayed discharges are at their highest level since 2010 and this is having a severe knock on effect on overwhelmed A&E departments.

“Patients are being forced to wait too long in A&E departments, and thousands are being left stranded on trolleys waiting for beds to become available on overcrowded hospital wards.

“Shamefully, the Tories failed to provide any extra investment for social care in the Autumn Statement last month. Patients deserve better than this, and with the busy Christmas period approaching, Labour is urging the Government to take immediate action to protect our NHS.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors

NHS England’s Combined Performance Summary for October 2016 highlights the pressures facing our NHS and social care system:

· Delayed transfers of care are now at their highest level since records began. The total number of delayed transfers (acute and non-acute) now stands at over 200,000 compared to 113,246 in October 2010.

·The number of patients waiting longer than four hours in Major A&E departments (Type 1) has increased from 46,467 in October 2010 to 214,617 this month.

· 16.3% of all hospital A&E patients were left waiting longer than 4 hours in October 2016 and the number of people waiting four hours or more on trolleys has increased from 6,932 in October 2010 to 48,815 October 2016 – an increase of over 600 per cent.

Source for all statistics: NHS England Combined Performance Summary: https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/combined-performance-summary/