Evidence of David Cameron’s A&E crisis deepening

- Hunt stuns Commons with ‘crisis, what crisis?’ dismissal

Labour publishes new evidence today on the A&E crisis spreading to other emergency services.

Figures obtained by a Labour Freedom of Information request reveal a 350% increase in the use of taxis in place of ambulances in the South West region in the space of 4 years. Separately, English police forces have disclosed growing numbers of patients taken to A&E in police vehicles. In Yorkshire, fire-fighters with basic first aid training are driving ambulances.

In the Commons today, Health Ministers refused to accept the evidence presented by MPs and repeatedly denied the severity of the A&E crisis. Despite panicked phone calls to hospitals last week, Jeremy Hunt labelled it “a crisis that is not happening” today.

Andy Burnham MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, said:

“People who have faced an anxious wait for an ambulance will be stunned by Jeremy Hunt’s complacency. Despite mounting evidence of the pressure on emergency services, his only response is ‘crisis, what crisis?’

"His failure to face up to the A&E crisis is having a serious knock-on effect on ambulance services. On his watch, more and more 999 calls are being attended by police cars and taxis. What clearer sign could there be of an NHS not safe in Tory hands?

“Winter is setting in, but Ministers still sound dangerously complacent about the crisis in England’s A&Es.  

“Ambulances are trapped in queues at A&Es unable to hand over patients and 999 response times are getting worse. Ministers are leaving large swathes of the country are without adequate ambulance cover.

“David Cameron must be honest with the public about the crisis facing the NHS this winter and take action to prevent it engulfing all emergency services.”