Andy Burnham MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, in response to the report from Sir Bruce Keogh on A&E, said:

“We welcome Sir Bruce Keogh’s important report and share much of his analysis, but we deplore the Government’s attempt to avoid presenting it to Parliament and abdicate all responsibility for the crisis in A&E.

“This is an issue affecting every man, woman and child in England and, on the brink of a dangerous winter, it’s just not good enough to have a Government acting as a spectator on the sidelines blaming everyone else.

“Ministers said this report would have lessons for the immediate winter as well as the longer term. But they are failing to act and their response remains ‘crisis, what crisis?’. They are forcing A&Es to go into winter with too few nurses, doctors and beds.

“This Prime Minister has made it harder to get a GP appointment, closed NHS Walk-in Centres and scrapped NHS Direct leaving people with no alternative but to go to A&E. David Cameron’s fingerprints are all over this A&E crisis – it is proof you can’t trust him with the NHS.”

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