Accident and Emergency departments under pressure in the run up to busy Christmas period

• Ahead of the Christmas period, Labour is highlighting the huge pressure A&E departments are under and is calling on the Government to ensure hospitals are able to cope across the winter period.
  
• The Labour Party is also publishing figures which reveal that the NHS is under enormous pressure with a deterioration in performance across a number of key areas.
  
• The most recent data (for October) shows that the number of people waiting four hours or longer in major A&E departments was 214,617 compared to 46,467 in October 2010.
  
• The number of patients being left to wait on trolleys for four hours or longer has increased by over 600 per cent since 2010.
  
• ·Annual data from NHS England shows that since 2009/10, the number of people waiting four hours or longer in A&E departments has soared with 1.8 million people waiting too long in 2015/16 compared to 353, 617 in 2009/10.
  

Jonathan Ashworth, Shadow Secretary of State for Health said:

“The Tories are letting patients and our NHS down this winter, with too many people waiting too long in overcrowded, overstretched A&E departments.

“These figures show that the Government is missing key A&E targets month after month, and older people are being trapped on hospital wards, unable to return home due to lack of social care provision. This Government has failed to recognise the strain our NHS is under this winter and patients deserve better.

“The Labour Party is urgently calling on the Government to put measures in place to ensure that hospitals have the resources they need to cope over the busy Christmas period and throughout winter, in order to make sure patients get the care they deserve.”