Andy Burnham MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary responding to reports that Police vehicles are being forced to act as Ambulances, said:

“Jeremy Hunt has failed to grasp the urgency of the A&E crisis and, as a result, the chaos is now spreading to other emergency services. The alarming fact that police cars are now doubling as make-shift ambulances is a clear sign of how bad things have got on his watch.

"Thousands of ambulances are being held in queues outside hospitals because A&E departments are full. Those queues are leaving large swathes of the country without adequate ambulance cover and forcing the Police to step in. A safe emergency service cannot be run on this basis.

"All year, we have warned Hunt about the growing crisis in A&E. His only response is to blame GPs and the last Government. His complacency has left the NHS unprepared and on the brink of the most dangerous winter it has faced in years.

"Patients and staff can’t go through another year like the one we have just had. The Health Secretary’s failure to deal with the winter A&E crisis has led to the first summer A&E crisis in living memory. It is the Health Secretary’s job to ensure ambulances are available for patients who need them. Hunt must get a grip or go.”