Liz Kendall MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Care and Older People, responding to the King’s Fund’s quarterly monitoring report on hospital finances on Tuesday, said:

“Today’s warning from the King’s Fund of a looming ‘financial crunch’ confirms Labour’s warnings that the NHS’s finances have deteriorated badly on this Government’s watch.

“NHS Trust deficits are growing and there are now twice as many Foundation Trusts in the red compared to this time last year.

“When the NHS faces the biggest financial challenge of its life, David Cameron should have been laser-focused on reforming frontline services to deliver better care and better value for money. Instead he forced through a massive backroom reorganisation that’s been a damaging distraction, wasted billions of pounds and weakened the grip on NHS finances too.

“The Government must now publish the final year-end finance figures in one annual account, so that Parliament and taxpayers can hold Ministers to account for their mismanagement of public money.”