Andy Burnham MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, responding to the Monitor report on Walk-in Centre closures, said:

“NHS Walk-In Centres are popular with patients and an important means of relieving pressure on A&E. When hospitals are under so much pressure, it makes no sense to close so many walk-in centres.

“When people consider the loss of so many valued Walk-In Centres alongside the closure of NHS Direct, they will be able to see how David Cameron’s fingerprints are all over the current A&E crisis.

“All this is made worse by the fact that, under David Cameron, it has got harder to get a GP appointment. He removed Labour’s guarantee of an appointment within 48 hours and cut the funding for evening and weekend opening. No wonder so many people are now left with no alternative to turning up at A&E.

“People need services and support seven days a week and that is why the last Government introduced NHS Direct and Walk-In Centres. The decision to dismantle them is one of this Government’s worst acts of vandalism and patients are paying the price. Day by day, the evidence is mounting that you can’t trust David Cameron with the NHS.”